


Little Monster

by evansandblack



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-18
Updated: 2018-07-14
Packaged: 2019-02-16 20:09:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 38,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13061277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evansandblack/pseuds/evansandblack
Summary: Being Liam Dunbar's twin sister was never easy, but it got even harder for Lauren when he became a werewolf and she was still human. When war breaks out in Beacon Hills Lauren finds herself hanging in the balance, trying to protect not only the pack, but the enemy too.Nolan Holloway/OFC.Rated M for language and violence.





	1. Chapter 1

It was barely autumn, but it had started to get uncomfortably cold at night and the metal bleachers at the lacrosse field were even colder. Despite the temperature, I was bound and determined to watch practice. It was one of the last practices of preseason and Scott's last day as assistant coach. I was sitting on the bleachers by myself, my brother's lacrosse hoodie pulled tight around my body as an extra layer of protection from the cold. Liam, however, was not in sight. The rest of the team had already started running drills, but my brother was not with them.

A text from Mason confirmed that he was still moping in the locker room. I told him to get Liam out there quickly because from where I was seated, it looked like Finstock was already on the brink of an aneurysm.

I cringed when I saw my friend Nolan get slammed for the second time already by Diaz but clapped supportively. "It's okay, Nolan! You've got this!"

He offered me a small wave when he got up and I smiled at him.

Coach Finstock yelled at him a second later. "Holloway! Grab a new stick and get in goal!"

Nolan hated playing goalie, it was something he'd admitted to me junior year while we were talking in our history class.

He took his spot in goal and the team started playing again. Liam was still not out there and Diaz was taking over the field. He was better than he'd been the year before and I was actually impressed.

I heard Finstock make a comment about making Diaz captain if Liam didn't show up soon so I quickly texted Mason to tell him.

Diaz was making his way down the field with the ball, rapidly approaching the net where Nolan stood nervously. He took the shot and a second before the ball could make it into the net, Liam appeared out of nowhere. He did an admittedly impressive flip before catching the ball and taking off towards the opposite end of the field.

I hopped up and clapped excitedly. "Way to go, Li!"

Things were looking good until Diaz started coming towards Liam, diving low and flipping him over his back. Liam landed hard on the ground and I cringed. When he didn't get up right away Scott blew his whistle and ran towards him.

I knew something must have been wrong, so I abandoned my seat and ran onto the field, weaving between the players who were standing there looking at Liam. I knelt next to him and Scott to see that Liam's eyes were glowing gold and he was growling lowly.

"Li, are you okay? You're not hurt, are you?" I asked, putting one hand on top of the heavy pads on his shoulders.

He shook his head, but I could still hear growls rumbling through his chest.

"Hey, look at me." I said, grabbing the face mask of his helmet and forcing him to face me. "You need to calm down. Take a deep breath."

He followed my instructions and I watched his eyes flicker back to their normal shade of blue, the same color or my own eyes.

Scott stood up suddenly, pulling the two of us to our feet as well.

I noticed everyone staring at something and I looked over to see a wolf standing on the field, barely fifteen feet away from all of us. There was still-wet blood on the side of its neck and it growled, baring its teeth.

Liam immediately pushed me behind him and I found myself nervously gripping the back of his jersey.

"Everyone back." Scott said cautiously.

Most of the team followed his instructions and took a few slow steps backwards. But Nolan was standing still, seeming unable to move. His eyes were trained intensely on the wolf.

"Nolan…" Scott said but he still didn't respond.

I walked towards him, brushing off Liam's hand when he tried to stop me. My fingertips brushed the skin of Nolan's forearm. "Hey, Nolan, it's okay. Just back up a little bit, okay? Just come towards me."

His feet moved hesitantly, and he almost stumbled back towards me.

I held onto his arm, my fingers gently stroking the skin there to keep him calm.

Scott took a small step forward and I knew what he was doing. No one could see it but he flashed his eyes; a second later the wolf turned around and walked back into the woods.

I moved towards my twin brother. "Liam, what's going on? Was that a wolf? Or a wolf?"

He shook his head. "I don't know."

"We need to go find out." Scott said, looking at Liam before turning his attention to me. "You need to stay here."

I folded my arms across my chest. "Absolutely not. The two of you aren't running off into the dark woods after a potentially murderous werewolf by yourselves."

"Lauren, please. Just stay here and make sure everyone leaves just in case it comes back." Scott pleaded.

I sighed but gave in. "Fine. Text me and let me know what you find out. And please, please be careful."

"We always are." Liam said before following Scott off the field and into the woods where the wolf had disappeared just seconds before.

Due to the appearance of a wild and potentially dangerous animal, Finstock had called practice to an end early and the boys were all making their way back towards the school and into the locker room.

I grabbed my bag from where I'd left it on the bleachers and followed them into the warm building and leaned against the wall across from the locker room door and waited to make sure everyone left.

Within 20 minutes, most of the guys were gone. Even Finstock had already left for the night but by my count, there was still one person lingering inside the locker room.

I waited 10 more minutes before deciding to investigate. I pushed the door open a few inches and made sure to announce my presence. "Hello?"

There was no response, but I knew someone still had to be in there.

"Hello?" I tried again, walking into the room and shutting the door behind me.

No one spoke but I heard a quiet sniffle come from the opposite side of the room. I walked around a few sets of lockers and saw Nolan sitting against the wall near the showers. He was already changed back into his normal clothes, but he was sitting on the floor with knees pulled close to his chest and his head in his hands.

"Nolan?" I asked, and his head snapped up. There were tear tracks on his cheeks.

"Lauren?"

I dropped my bag and rushed over, kneeling beside him. "Hey, what's going on? Why are you upset?"

He shook his head and wiped a hand over his face. "Nothing. I'm fine."

I sighed. "It's okay, you can tell me."

He just shook his head again.

I reached out to rest my hand on his shoulder. "Was it the wolf? I know you were in the library last year when… Everything happened."

"Lauren, really, you don't have to worry about me." He said.

"Of course I do."

"Why?" He asked almost coldly.

My eyebrows furrowed for a second before relaxing. "Because you're my friend."

His expression softened. "Sorry. I'm just a little freaked out."

I nodded. "It's okay. I understand."

He wiped his hand across his face again, the remaining tears disappearing.

"I know what might make you feel better." I said.

His blue eyes met mine. "Yeah?"

I nodded. "Let's go to that diner downtown and get something to eat. Carbs will help take the edge off, I promise."

He smiled widely. "That sounds great."

I returned the smile and stood up, offering him a hand and helping pull him to his feet. "I swear, they've got the best hot chocolate in Beacon Hills. Come on, I'll drive."

Nolan grabbed his bag from the floor and followed me out of the locker room and towards the parking lot.

"You seem really calm." He noted. "Considering what just happened."

I looked up at him, a small smile on my lips. "Yeah, there's not a lot that scares me anymore."

"Not even a wolf?" He asked.

I wanted to laugh but I didn't. "I mean, it's scary, I guess. But no one got hurt so there's no reason to freak out, right?"

We had made it to my car, which seemed to look more and more beat up every single time I saw it. Nolan had stopped a few feet back, looking conflicted.

"What's wrong?" I asked, taking a step towards him.

He shook his head and smiled. "Nothing. I'm sure you're right. It's just an isolated incident, no big deal."

I could tell the smile was fake by the way his upper lip had twitched but I pretended to go along with it. "See, everything's fine."

We got into the car and I jammed the key into the ignition and turned it. The engine sputtered but didn't turn over. I groaned before letting go, running a hand through my hair which was a mess from being outside in the wind. "Just give her a minute. She has a hard time sometimes… Most of the time."

Nolan chuckled quietly.

"God, it's like the Jeep all over again." I muttered, not thinking he would hear me.

"Did you have a Jeep before?" He asked.

I shook my head and laughed a little. "No, not me. Stiles did, though. It didn't even run on gas, I don't think. It ran on hopes and dreams. Not to mention that it's held together by several rolls of industrial strength duct tape."

He smiled as I turned the key again. This time, the engine turned over and roared to life.

"So, you excited for senior year?" I asked, putting the car in drive and pulling out of the parking lot.

"More nervous than excited." He admitted. "But I guess I'm excited to just be done with high school."

"Tell me about it. I just want to get the hell out of Beacon Hills, get all of my undergrad work done, and take the MCAT." I said.

I noticed a small look of surprise on his face. "MCAT? You want to go to med school?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I want to be a surgeon like my dad. I know it's going to take a while but that's fine. I love learning, I just can't deal with all of the drama here."

There was a lot more to it than I could admit to Nolan, but I certainly wasn't lying to him. However, telling him that "drama" meant supernatural creatures trying to kill me and my friends was not an option.

"I don't blame you for wanting to leave." He said, fiddling with a loose string on his sleeve. "Beacon Hills is kind of crazy."

I knew that the beast showing up at the lacrosse game the year before was still bothering him, and with good reason. Nolan, like a lot of other students, had taken shelter in the library when the beast appeared. Physically, he was unharmed; but I knew there had been some psychological damage done. He'd always been anxious, I noticed it the moment I met him, but things had only seemed to get worse after the incident.

My fingers gripped the steering wheel tightly as I felt the almost overwhelming desire to tell him everything, to give him answers as to what the hell had actually happened to him. But I knew how dangerous it could be if he knew about everything. I knew what kind of target that could paint on his back and I didn't want that. I didn't want him to feel even half as scared as I did all the time.

"Lauren?"

I blinked once and looked over at him. "Sorry, what?"

"The light is green." He said.

I looked back to the traffic light in front of me, no longer glowing red. I nodded and pressed my foot to the gas. "Sorry, I was just thinking about something."

"About what?" He asked.

"Just school stuff." The lie rolled off my tongue with ease. I didn't even think, my mouth just moved of its own accord. "My schedule for this year is pretty packed. Between AP classes and extracurriculars, I'm not going to have a lot of free time."

"Are you still going to be coming to games and practices?" His tone was hopeful. "It's kind of nice having you there. At least I know I've got one person cheering for me."

I smiled. "Yeah, of course. I haven't missed one yet, have I?"

"I know that I don't always play and I'm probably not even going to make first line but it's just… It's nice knowing that you're there."

I looked away from the road to glance over at him. "Come on, you can totally make first line this year."

He arched an eyebrow at me. "Really? I got my ass handed to me tonight."

"So you need a little work. Listen, you're too nice. That's your biggest problem. Being nice is great until you're out on the field. Just take whatever anger you have and put it to good use. I know you have the skills because I've seen you run drills. It's not until the scrimmage when you get messed up."

"I don't have that much anger." He said.

I rolled my eyes jokingly. "You've got to be kidding me. You're a teenage boy, Nolan. Aren't all teenage boy supposed to be seething with rage?"

"No, I don't think that's healthy."

I laughed. "As a person who is often seething with rage, I feel attacked."

"You?" He questioned. "Seething with rage? What are you even talking about? I know you complain a lot but I've never seen you get angry about anything."

"Because you're not an asshole and you've never given me anything to be that angry about. But believe me, deep down, I am full of hellfire."

"Is it because you're short? It's usually the short girls who are the angriest." He teased.

I smacked his arm. "Oh my god, never mind. You are an asshole. And I will have you know that I am 5'3 and I know for a fact that I am four inches taller than Lainey Harris."

"Lainey Harris is 13 years old. She's only a sophomore because she skipped like three grades. So, is that all you've got? Being taller than a 13 year old? You're 17." Nolan laughed.

I pulled into the parking lot of the diner and found a spot between two minivans. "Are we going to go drink hot chocolate or are you going to further make fun of my stature?"

He laughed as we got out of the car.

I followed him inside. There weren't many people so we took an empty booth by the front window.

A waitress appeared to greet us and ask what we wanted to drink.

"Two hot chocolates." I said immediately.

She disappeared a moment later and Nolan smiled at me from across the table. "Thanks for this, by the way."

"It's no problem. You seemed pretty shaken up and I figure this is the least I could do."

He nodded. "Yeah, that was kind of intense earlier."

"Especially after what happened before." I blurted out.

His eyes widened, and I realized I'd made a mistake.

"Shit, I'm sorry. That was really not cool for me to bring that up. I already brought it up earlier and now this." I ran a hand through my hair. "Really, I'm sorry."

He shook his head. "No, don't apologize. It's okay, really. I just… I'm surprised. Most people don't bring it up because they're worried that I'm going to break down or something. It's actually nice for someone to not treat me like I'm weak."

"You're not weak at all, Nolan. Not by a long shot. I mean, obviously it's something worth being upset over but you seem to be doing okay, all things considered."

"I just don't know how you do it." He said, picking up a sugar packet from the basket at the end of the table and fiddling with it.

"Do what?"

The corner of his mouth turned up in the hint of a smirk. "Everything. All of this. You were there that night. You saw that thing too. You… You looked it in the face and you didn't run away like everyone else did. You stared right at it. And you walk around every single day like it's fine, like nothing ever even happened. It's like you don't even realize you could've died."

His words hit me hard and I leaned against the back of my seat, folding my hands in my lap. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to say.

"And you know just as well as I do that it wasn't just a wolf. It wasn't just some animal attack." He said, resting his elbows on the edge of the table and leaning in my direction.

My eyes went wide and I was happy he wasn't looking at me in that moment. He knew it wasn't an animal and he was suspicious, maybe even of me. And that was a problem.

"I don't know what I saw that night, Nolan. It had to be some animal… Some crazy, mutated bear or something. It wasn't human. What else could it be?" I said.

Nolan looked back at me, his blue eyes scanning my face.

I could tell there was something on his mind, something he desperately wanted to say.

But he didn't.

The waitress strolled back up to our table, setting down two mugs of hot chocolate before wandering off again.

I picked mine up, curling my fingers around the warm mug. I could see steam wafting from the top so I knew it was too hot to drink but the heat made my hands feel better.

"Are you sure it was just an animal?" He asked.

I looked up from my mug to meet his eyes. I wanted to tell him the truth, he deserved to know. But I just nodded my head. "Yeah, Nolan. I promise. What I saw was an animal."

He leaned back, his own hands wrapping around his mug. "I'm sure you're right."

I don't think he noticed the way his voice trembled when he said that. He didn't believe me, at least not entirely. And he didn't know that I knew that.

I took a sip of my hot chocolate, ignoring the way it burned my mouth. "It's okay to be scared, Nolan. Just don't let it control your life."

He nodded, his blue eyes focused on his drink, as if he were expecting a mug full of chocolate to answer all of his questions.

"What is it?" I asked and his head snapped up, almost surprised by my question.

"N-Nothing. Tomorrow's the first day of senior year. I guess I'm just nervous."

He was lying. And he still didn't know that I knew it.

"That's not the only thing you're anxious about. Tell me."

He shook his head and reached into his pocket, pulling out $10 and dropping it on the table. "Really, I'm fine. I just… I need to get home."

"Okay, I'll give you a ride." I said, standing up at the same time he did.

He shook his head. "Don't worry about it. I'll uh… I'll see you tomorrow."

Nolan all but ran out the door and flopped back down in my seat. I reached for my hot chocolate but realized my appetite had vanished.

I walked outside, pulling my jacket tighter around me and looking for Nolan. He was getting into the car with Gabe, another guy from the lacrosse team, one of the only people I ever saw Nolan spend time with, and someone I'd talked to a few times at parties.

When I got into my car, I realized Nolan had left his bag. I grabbed my phone and sent him a text about it before driving home.

When I got inside, the house was quiet. Mom was already in bed and dad had another late shift at the hospital. I walked upstairs to see if Liam was in his room but there was no sign of him.

I knew he was with Scott so I tried not to worry. But after what happened with Nolan, I was feeling a bit shaken. Something was off, not just with him but in general.

Ignoring the feeling, I changed into pajamas before crawling into bed.

Liam never woke me up so I didn't know when he'd finally gotten home but when I walked downstairs, he was sitting at the kitchen table with a bowl of cereal.

"So what happened last night?" I asked, opening the fridge to look for food.

"We found bodies." He said casually.

"Human?" I asked.

"Wolves."

I nodded. "Werewolves or just wolves?"

"Not sure yet." He stood up to put his bowl in the sink and I closed the fridge.

"You ready for today? Did you pick your classes?" I asked, leaning against the counter.

He nodded. "Did you?"

"I picked mine weeks ago. You're the one who saves everything for the last minute."

"Have you heard anything about the new guidance counselor?" He asked.

I shook my head. "Not much. I know there have been some kids meeting with her throughout the summer."

"About what?"

I folded my arms across my chest. "The Beast. They were all in the library when it happened. I found out because of Nolan. I guess he sees her like once a week."

"I didn't know he was even there." Liam admitted.

I nodded. "It really scared him, Li. And I'm worried; Not just about Nolan, about everything. What if people are suspicious? I'm pretty sure everyone there is smart enough to know it wasn't an animal."

"Just calm down. We've been dealing with this long enough, we know how to handle it." He said.

I took a deep breath. "You're right. We have other bullshit to deal with today. So I'm going to go get dressed and we're going to senior registration and we're going to be normal high school students for once."

Liam offered me a smile. "That's the spirit, sort of."

I rolled my eyes and gave him a light shove. "Very funny. Get dressed, I want to leave in twenty."

My phone chimed as I made my way back to my bedroom and I checked it, expecting to see that Nolan had finally texted me back but it was just my dad, wishing me good luck for the first day of senior year.

I placed my phone on my desk while I got dressed and was just pulling my sweater over my head when there was a knock on my door.

"Come in!"

The door opened and Liam stepped inside, leaning against the wall. "Ready?"

I nodded. "I think so."

He tossed me my adidas backpack that was laying on the floor by the door and I slung it over my shoulder before following him downstairs.

I drove that morning and since Nolan's bag was still in my car, I'd had to field a bunch of questions about it from Liam.

"Listen, we went to get food. It's not like I went on a date with him. He's my friend, Liam." I said, glancing away from the road to shoot him a look.

"Why didn't you tell me?" He asked.

I rolled my eyes. "I wasn't aware that I had to tell you everything I do, Li. Last time I checked, you're my brother, not my dad."

"I still need to know where you are. What if something happens to you? How can I find you if I don't know where you went?" He asked.

My hands gripped the steering wheel tightly. "Okay, I get it. I understand. But what you have to understand is that I am capable of taking care of myself. You can't just baby me all the time."

"I know that. I know you can take care of yourself. But what you have to understand is that there are things out there that you can't protect yourself from. What am I supposed to do if something happens to you? What's the pack supposed to do?"

"You say that like I'm some crucial member of the pack. I'm hardly a True Alpha. I'm not even a werewolf. I can't predict death, I'm not strong, I don't… I don't even have a bat!" I almost laughed.

I pulled into the school parking lot, found an empty space, and put the car in park.

"Lauren, stop. Just because you can't…"

I cut him off. "Can we do this later? Please?"

Liam groaned and thumped his head against the back of the seat. "Fine."

I turned the car off and grabbed my backpack and Nolan's bag before getting out of the car.

"I'm sorry, Li. I'm just stressing out right now so if we could handle this later that would be great. I just want to meet with the guidance counselor and get it over with." I said, running a hand through my hair.

He nodded. "Yeah, I'm sorry too. I just worry about you a lot."

"I know." I said, staring at the ground as we made our way towards the building. "I know you're just looking out for me."

When we got inside, most of the seniors were already lined up in front of the guidance counselor's office.

"I'm not just going to stand around so I'm going to find Nolan to give his bag back and I'll meet up with you after, okay?" I said.

Liam gave me a wave as I took off the down the hallway.

Nolan was standing in front of his locker, typing a text on his phone.

"Good to see it still works." I said.

"What?" He asked.

"Your phone. It's good to see it still works. Thanks for texting me back."

I dropped his bag at his feet before turning on my heel and walking back in the direction I'd come from.

When I found Liam again, Mason and Corey had joined him in line and they were all talking about what classes they'd selected on the registration sheets.

"What's wrong?" Liam asked as soon as I walked up.

"Nothing. Why?"

"You smell terrible." He said.

I glared at him. "Excuse me?"

He shrugged. "Chemosignals. You smell like you're pissed off. And it's not a good smell."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm fine. Mostly just annoyed. Don't worry about it."

I leaned against a random locker as we waited for the line to move forward.

It took what felt like hours but the line slowly dwindled down. Liam, Corey, and Mason too their turns before I did.

It wasn't until they'd all gone until when I realized Nolan had gotten into line right behind me.

"Hey, Ren?" He asked timidly.

I turned to face him. "Yeah?"

"I'm sorry I didn't text you. And I'm sorry I ditched you last night. It's just… I've been really anxious lately and I've been acting like a jerk because of it."

I stretched onto my toes and wrapped my arms around his neck. "It's okay, Nolan. I can't stay mad at you, anyway."

His arms wrapped around my waist and gave me a light squeeze. "I'm still sorry."

I pulled away but smiled up at him. "I know. But you're my friend. So, I guess, if you're feeling like this and you need to take it out on someone, you can take it out on me. I can handle it."

The door opened and I heard a voice call out for the next person to come in.

"That's me." I said. "See you later, okay?"

I walked into the office, closed the door behind me, and took a seat.

"Lauren Dunbar?"

I nodded. "Yes."

"It's nice to meet you. I'm Miss Monroe and I'll be your new guidance counselor." She smiled at me.

I smiled back. "Nice to meet you."

I reached into my backpack to pull out my registration sheet.

"So, Miss Dunbar, what are your plans after graduation? What colleges are you looking at?" She asked as I laid my paper on her desk.

"Harvard Med, Johns Hopkins, and Stanford Med are my top three picks. Beyond that, Duke, UCSF, and Yale." I explained.

"Aiming high, I see."

"Not too high though, right?" I asked.

She laughed lightly. "With your grades, I doubt anything would be too high. I do have one concern though."

I shifted in my chair, feeling my heart rate pick up. "What would that be?"

"Your attendance." She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her desk. "Your record shows that you missed 49 days last year."

I looked down at my lap. "I know my attendance has been bad the past couple of years but I plan on doing a lot better this year."

"Do you mind if I ask the reason your attendance record got so bad so quickly?" She asked.

I almost laughed. "I was really stressed and it caused me to get sick a lot. I, uh, I did therapy for a while though and now it's not as bad."

Miss Monroe nodded once. "I'm happy to hear that. Now, about your test scores; I see that you've already taken the ACT."

"Yeah, I did it in the spring." I said.

"Is there a reason you decided to take the ACT instead of the SAT?" She asked.

"I planned on taking both, actually. I figured it would just provide another score for schools to take a look at whenever I apply." I explained.

She smiled. "And have you started any SAT prep yet?"

"I took a practice exam over the summer. I got a 2290. I've already checked each school's SAT, ACT, and GPA requirements online. My scores are high enough for all six of the schools I'm considering. Not to mention, I have all of my extracurriculars."

She picked up my registration sheet and looked over the classes I'd selected. "AP bio, AP anatomy, AP chem, trig, English, Latin, and gym. Perfect choices, Miss Dunbar. What branch of medicine are looking to go into?"

"Surgery and emergency medicine." I explained. "I was thinking maybe working in a trauma unit or something."

Monroe laid my paper back down on the desk. "Well, it appears you've got everything planned out. You barely seem to need my help."

I laughed. "I don't usually need much help with anything anymore. I've had to deal with a lot these past couple of years."

"Like what?"

I shook my head. "Nothing I'm big on talking about. It's just a lot of drama."

"I know what it's like living here in Beacon Hills. We've all been through a lot, things that aren't easily explained." She said.

I realized then that the tone of her voice, the pitch, hadn't changed once in the entire time I'd been in her office. And that was unusual. But the meaning behind her words had my head spinning. She knew things. "What do you mean?"

"You were in the library last year, weren't you? You saw it, the animal attack."

I nodded. "Yeah. I saw the animal."

"What do you think it was?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. It was dark. I thought it was a bear or something."

"Are you sure about that?" She asked.

I noticed her eyes narrow slightly and I squared my shoulders. "It's not my job to know what kind of animal it was. It was just my job to get out of there, and that's what I did."

Monroe's smile barely looked fake. "I don't mean to make you feel uncomfortable, Miss Dunbar. Thank you for coming in. You can take your registration sheet to the front office to turn in and they'll have your schedule made soon."

I stood up and grabbed the paper from her desk before walking out.

Nolan stepped inside and shut the door as I made my way down the hall to where Liam, Corey, and Mason were all standing.

"I don't trust her." I said immediately.

Liam's eyebrows raised. "You just met her?"

"Yeah, I know. And she was already asking me about what happened in the library last year. She knows it wasn't an animal attack so she starts asking me what I think it was. I can't tell if she's smart or a complete idiot. Either way, I don't like her. Didn't she ask you guys anything weird?"

Liam shook his head. "No, not really."

"Yeah, actually. She was talking about how things have happened that don't come with easy explanation and that anything we talk about in her office is confidential. I really don't think she was just talking about my schedule." Mason said.

"She made you kind of uncomfortable, didn't she? Not enough that you immediately want to run in the other direction but just enough that you don't want to be in a closed room with her?" I asked.

Mason laughed but nodded. "Yeah, a lot like that. She definitely knows more than she should."

The sounds of footsteps drawing closer to where we were standing brought the conversation to a close. I turned to see Gabe walking towards us, his eyes focused on me.

"Hey, can I talk to you for a second?" He asked. "Privately."

Liam shot me a look but I just shook my head before turning back to Gabe. "Yeah, of course."

I followed Gabe to the opposite end of the hallway where he leaned against the wall. "What did you and Nolan talk about last night before I picked him up?"

"I'm fine, how are you?" I snapped. "And why are mine and Nolan's conversations any of your business?"

"He was upset after he left you at the diner. I want to make sure that's not going to happen again. He's not just your friend, he's mine too."

I rolled my eyes and folded my arms across my chest. "I was talking about the library. I didn't mean to upset him. If anything, I was trying to help."

"By upsetting him?"

"I tried telling him that he doesn't have to let fear control his life. I was trying to tell him that it was just some freak animal attack and he doesn't have to be terrified that's it going to happen again. He was upset to begin with, okay? After what happened at lacrosse practice, he was really freaked out. I told him we should go get some hot chocolate to help him relax. I thought talking about it might make him feel a little bit better." I explained.

Gabe rolled his eyes and looked away before his eyes flickered back to mine. "Well, clearly you fucked up."

"Yeah, clearly I did. But at least I fucking tried, Gabe. At least my idea of helping him cope is something healthy. You just try dragging him along to parties that he's uncomfortable going to. That's not the kind of person he is. He's not as social as you and I are. Shit, just take him to a movie or something; a comedy, he hates horror films."

He shook his head, glaring down at me. "Do you think you're special just because you know that about him?"

I shrugged. "Not really. But I suppose you think you're special, running around like you have some monopoly over being his friend."

"You should watch your attitude." He warned.

I laughed and began to walk away before I called over my shoulder to him.

"Threaten me again and I'll beat you to death with your own lacrosse stick."


	2. Chapter 2

“Miss Dunbar.” A voice called out from behind me as I made my way down the hall.

I stopped and spun around, seeing Monroe staring at me from right outside her office. I walked back towards her. “Hello, Miss Monroe.”

“I was wondering if you’d like to come into my office tomorrow to talk. You mentioned during registration that you’ve been dealing with a lot of stress and I thought you might benefit from talking about it a bit.” She said.

“Oh.” I said, hands wrapping around the straps of my backpack. “Um, I really appreciate the thought, but I have a lot going on right now. Maybe I could come in next week sometime or maybe the week after. I think I just need to get adjusted and focus on my schoolwork before anything else.”

She handed me a sheet of paper to set up an appointment time. “Just take one. Whenever you feel ready to come in, just let me know. And remember, I have an open door policy. If you ever start feeling overwhelmed, feel free to stop by.”

I forced a smile onto my face as I took the paper from her outstretched hand. “Thank you. I’ll be sure to keep that in mind.”

I folded the paper and slipped it into my backpack as I continued in the direction I was originally headed, towards the lacrosse field. As I got closer to the field, I saw someone standing there that I was thrilled to see.

“Brett!” I screeched, dropping my backpack on the grass and running towards him.

“Lauren!” He smiled widely before scooping me up into a tight hug, leaving my feet dangling off the ground.

My arms were latched around his neck. “I missed you!”

“Missed you too, half-stack.” He said, lowering me to my feet but keeping one of his arms around my waist. “How have you been?”

I sighed heavily but forced myself to smile. “Uh, well, you know how things can be. It’s not great but I guess I’m managing. What about you?”

“Things haven’t been too bad. It always makes me feel better seeing you.” He smiled down at me, lightly bumping his hip into me.

I laughed. “Yeah, I guess seeing you is pretty alright too.”

Before he could respond, Liam spoke from a few feet away. “Brett.”

I noticed his eyes focus on the spot where Brett’s hand rested against my side. “Liam, chill.”

He made a face but didn’t prod. “You ready to start?”

Brett nodded, his hand falling from my waist. “Yeah, looks like you guys could use all the help you can get.”

Liam rolled his eyes before turning his attention to me. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

I nodded, and Brett walked back towards the field.

“Have you talked to Monroe today?” My brother asked.

“Yeah, just before I came out here, actually.” I said. “She offered for me to come in and talk, gave me a scheduling slip. She was kind of pushy, to be honest.”

“She did the same thing to me. Are you going to go?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I mean, I doubt it. What am I going to tell her? I’m under constant levels of stress because of the seemingly endless number of things trying to kill us?”

“Could always talk about daddy issues.” He said, only half joking.

I sighed. “Liam, just because it’s true doesn’t mean you should say it.”

He smirked before changing the subject. “You should go sit down. We’re going to start in a minute and I know how much you hate missing any of the action.”

“Okay. Good luck, have fun, and remember your mantra. Just look at me if anything’s wrong, okay?” I said, grabbing my backpack from where I dropped it and heading towards the bleachers.

I sat down in the front and dropped my bag to the ground next to my feet, my eyes already focused on the field.

The first few drills the boys ran were simple, mostly focused on passing and blocking. After a while, the freshmen took a seat while Corey took his spot in the goal, Liam got ready to play defense, and Brett was on offense.

I hoped that things wouldn’t get too intense but knowing Brett and Liam, there was no avoiding it.

As they showed the younger boys different plays, I found myself calling out different plays, and even shouting advice to the newbies. Without even realizing it, I had stood up and walked towards the edge of the field, watching the action with my arms folded across my chest.

“Brett!” I shouted, leading to the tall boy walking over to me. “Show them a split dodge.”

He nodded, ran back to his spot on the field, and they ran the play. Brett all but flew past Liam to score.

“You’ve got to be quicker on your feet, Li!” I called out.

He shot me a look but I ignored him.

Instead, I turned my attention to the boys sitting on the bench. “A split dodge isn’t exactly easy to see coming, but that’s the whole point. If you’re on defense, blocking it really just comes down to being quick on your feet. You’ve got to learn how to watch their hands and their feet at the same time because you have to know if they’re going to pass or fake you out.”

I watched as Brett slammed into Liam on his way to the goal, sending Liam to the ground. I cringed and took a seat on the bench. It wasn’t hard to tell that Liam was getting worked up and it was making me nervous.

A minute later, Liam ducked down and all but threw Brett over his shoulder before scooping up the ball and heading towards the goal. He made the shot and the ball tore through the net.

Brett jogged up to him a minute later, playfully bumping into him. To everyone else, it looked harmless, like he was congratulating Liam on a good shot. I could tell it was something else, especially when Liam left the field and headed to the locker rooms.

Instead of following, I decided to give him time to calm down. I took a deep breath and stood back up. “Alright, guys, why don’t you head out onto the field and try running some of these drills?”

The freshmen all hopped up and jogged onto the field.

I walked along the sideline and watched them, but my mind was elsewhere. I was worried about my brother. It seemed like he was having a harder and harder time trying to control his anger and I didn’t want it to become a problem again. My eyes flickered over to where Brett was still helping run drills and tugged at the sleeves of my sweater. When I looked back to the freshmen, I noticed that the group was one short. My head swiveled around toward the bench, wondering if someone had stopped to get a drink but no one was there. Assuming someone was just sick, I turned back to the field.

After watching the guys run drills for a while, I checked my watch to see that it was getting late and there was a history test coming up that Liam, Corey, Mason, and I were going to study for together.

I jogged over to where Mason was sitting on the bleachers. “Hey, if we’re going to study for that test we should probably go soon. I’ll let Corey know and then we can grab Liam from the locker room.”

I called out to the boys who were practicing that they were free to continue running drills if they wanted but if not, they could head home. Then I walked over to Corey to tell him the same thing I had told Mason.

When Corey walked over to grab his water bottle from the bench, Brett walked up to me.

“You ever considered being a lacrosse coach?” He asked.

I laughed. “You know, now that you mention it, I’m sure the life of a high school lacrosse coach is far more fulfilling than that of a surgeon.”

“Yeah, alright. But you were really good with those guys. They listen to you.” He said.

I shrugged. “They’re ambitious. I’m pretty sure they’re willing to listen to anyone who can help. Not to mention that I’m the captain’s sister.”

“I’m sure the fact that you’re cute doesn’t hurt.”

“I was thinking the exact same thing but I didn’t really want to brag or anything. I mean, honestly, I think I am the cutest person here.” I smirked.

“I’m wounded. But, I can’t say I disagree.”

I laughed and smiled up at him. “I have missed you, you know? You should come around more. I’m sure mom and dad wouldn’t mind having you and Lori over for dinner sometime.”

Brett grinned. “Sounds great. Just talk to your parents about when might be a good time and let me know. Lori and I would love to be there.”

“Perfect,” I said, glancing at my watch again. “I’m supposed to study with the guys and I’m sure you probably need to head home but I’ll see you soon, right?”

He nodded. “Of course.”

I smiled and reached up to hug him again.

He bent down closer to my height to squeeze his arms around my waist.

I pecked his cheek before pulling away and following Mason and Corey who were heading towards the building. I called out a goodbye to Brett before grabbing my bag and running to catch up with the guys.

When we got inside, most of the team had already disappeared and Liam was sitting on one of the benches and tying his shoes.

“Hey, guys.” He greeted. “What are you doing here?”

“Just looking for you. History test tomorrow? We need to study.” Mason said.

“Yeah, right. That’s probably a good idea since I have no idea what it’s on.” Liam responded with a laugh.

Corey shot me a weird look when we realized that Liam’s locker door was mysteriously missing but neither of us said anything about it. “It’s on Mussolini and the role of fear-baiting in the rise of fascism. We can study together.”

“Yeah, can we take the test together?” Liam asked.

I rolled my eyes jokingly before spotting something on the floor. It looked like blood but I wondered why Liam hadn’t been able to smell it. “Um, guys?”

They all turned to look at the spot my eyes were fixated on.

I walked over, following the trail of blood to the showers. On the way there, I found discarded shoulder pads on the floor and the concentration of blood continued to grow.

What we saw on the floor of the showers caused a shriek to tear from my lips before I stumbled a few steps backward, slamming into Liam. One of his hands landed on my shoulder before he moved around me to get a closer look at the skinless body on the ground.

I turned around, not able to look at it any longer. My heart was racing in my chest and I couldn’t get my hands to stop shaking.

Corey was the closest person to me and I stepped towards him.

He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me into his chest. I closed my eyes and tried to convince myself that what I had seen wasn’t real. But I knew it was.

I scolded myself, knowing that if I wanted to be a surgeon, that I would have to be used to seeing the human body in multiple disturbing ways. But I’d never stumbled upon a body with no skin, no face.

I took a deep breath and pulled away from Corey.

“How are we supposed to tell who it is? There’s no face. There’s not even a mouth or eyes. It’s like it isn’t even a person. What the fuck is going on?” I said. “This isn’t possible. This doesn’t happen, it _can’t_ happen.”

Liam turned around to face us. “We can figure out who this is. We know it’s a lacrosse player. Was there anyone who wasn’t at drills?”

“Yeah, I noticed that there was one person missing. I just thought someone had gotten sick or something.” I paused and pulled my phone from my pocket. “I’m sending out a group text to all the lacrosse players I have numbers for.”

“What are you going to do? Ask who isn’t the dead body?” Liam asked.

“Obviously not. I just figured I’d make something up.” I said.

“Like what?” Corey asked.

I looked around for an idea, trying not to look at the body on the floor. I noticed the discarded shoulder pads near my feet. “I’ll just ask if anyone left their shoulder pads out and tell them that I stuck them in coach’s office for them to get tomorrow.”

I moved to sit down on a bench as my thumbs typed out the text before selected all of the lacrosse players names and hitting send.

Within a minute, responses were coming in.

I noticed that Liam was on his phone too, probably doing the same thing I was.

By the time ten minutes had passed, we’d received responses from almost everyone. Except for one person.

“Aaron’s the only one we haven’t heard from.” Liam pointed out.

I closed my eyes, thinking back to all of the guys I’d seen running drills. And Aaron had never made it out onto the field. “He wasn’t out there earlier. Did you guys talk to him before?”

Mason nodded. “Yeah, he was in here. We talked to him.”

My eyes focused on the body without meaning to. “What if it’s him?”

“We can’t jump to that conclusion yet.” Mason said. “We can all split up and look. I’ll check the library.”

“And I’ll go look in the gym.” Corey offered.

“I’ll look in the east wing.” I said.

“I’ll check the second floor.” Liam said. “Everyone meet by the stairs in ten?”

We nodded before leaving the locker room.

We all took off in different directions. I was at a dead sprint headed towards the east wing where most of the science classes were held.

“Aaron?” I called out, slowing to a jog. “Aaron? Hello? Anyone here?”

There was no response and all of the classrooms were empty.

I took off in the direction I’d come from and checked the adjoining hallway, coming up empty again. When I realized that it had been almost ten minutes, I ran back towards the stairs.

We all made it there at the same time. No one had seen Aaron. Mason suggested checking the parking lot to see if his car was there and we all took off together.

Just as we passed one classroom, we saw Aaron sitting inside at one of the desks so we all walked in.

“Aaron?” Liam said.

A second passed before he turned around, a smile on his face. “Hey, guys.”

“Thank god you’re okay.” Mason breathed. “Where have you been?”

“I forgot we have a history test tomorrow.” He said, gesturing towards the open text book on the desk.

“We’ve been trying to call you.” Corey said.

Aaron reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, pressing the home button several times. The screen remained black. “Huh. Must’ve died.”

I ran a hand through my hair and walked back out into the hall. Corey and Mason followed but Liam remained in the classroom.

“Do you guys think he seems a little off? Or is that just me?” I asked.

Corey nodded. “Yeah, maybe a little bit.”

I sighed and pulled my phone out again.

“What are you doing now?” Liam asked when he stepped out into the hall.

“Someone has to call in the body.” I explained. “I was just going to call Stilinski on his cell. If I call the station directly to report it, they’ll question me. Maybe all of us.”

Liam gave me a nod and I found Stilinski’s contact info as I walked back toward the locker room to get my backpack from where I’d left it.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Sheriff. Um, I have some news you’re not gonna want to hear.” I said.

“Are you okay? Who’s hurt?” He asked immediately.

I took a deep breathe before answering. “No one’s hurt. Well, that’s kind of complicated, actually. But we found a body at the high school, in the locker room.”

Stilinski sighed. “Wonderful. Do you know who it is?”

“That part is even more complicated. There’s… There’s no skin on the body. No eyes, no mouth, no face. It’s stripped down to the muscle. We thought it was someone from the lacrosse team but all the boys are accounted for, we’ve talked to all of them.”

“Who is ‘we?’” He asked.

“Liam, Mason, Corey, and myself.” I said. “Liam was in the locker room when we went to look for him because we need to study for a test tomorrow. I noticed a trail of blood on the floor and we followed it. The body was in the showers.”

“Didn’t Liam smell it?”

I shrugged before I remembered he couldn’t see me. “I guess not. And I feel like there’s a damn good reason why but I haven’t figured it out yet.”

“Okay, I’ll gather up a couple units, put a call in to the coroner, and head down there. You kids should probably get out of there before anyone else to shows up.” He said and I could hear the faint jingle of keys.

“Okay, we’ll be gone. Thanks, Stilinski.”

“Thanks for the call. Be careful, alright?”

I smiled. “You, too, Sheriff.”

We hung up and I stuffed my phone back into my pocket before sprinting into the locker room, grabbing my bag from the floor, and sprinting back out. I didn’t want to be near that body any longer than necessary.

“You guys ready?” I asked when I found them again.

They all nodded once.

“Are you riding with me?” I turned to my brother.

“Yeah. Corey will ride with Mason. I guess we’ll just study at home instead of the library.” He said.

“Sounds good. Stilinski said it was probably best if we’re not here when the cops show up. He also pointed out a pretty good question.”

“What?”

“Why didn’t you smell the blood?” I asked.

Liam’s eyes widened for a fraction of a second. “I didn’t even think about that. I was pretty worked up when I came in. I guess I just didn’t realize it.”

I nodded. “Makes sense. Let’s just get out of here, okay? Knowing that body’s in there is creeping me out.”

20 minutes later we were all back at the house, in Liam’s room. Corey was sitting at the desk, Liam and Mason were sprawled on the floor between the end of the bed and the tv stand, and I was sitting on the bed, propped up against the headboard. There were drinks and several bags of chips distributed throughout the room.

“So, who was Mussolini exactly?” Liam asked.

“He was an Italian politician and journalist. He became Prime Minister in 1922, ruled constitutionally until 1925 when he turned Italy from a democracy to a dictatorship. He was the founder of Italian Fascism and lead the national fascist party. In 1912 he was actually part of the socialist party in Italy but was kicked out because he was an advocate for military intervention in WWI, when Italy was a neutral country. About ten years later he lead the March on Rome alongside the Blackshirts, a voluntary militia that used violence as a means to oppress socialism in the nation. The king himself selected Mussolini as Prime Minister which was stupid but allowed the fascist party to gain control without armed conflict.” I explained, highlighting things in my notes while I spoke.

“So he was kind of a Nazi?” He asked.

I shrugged. “Not in so many words, but kind of. Germany invaded Poland in 1939 which lead to France and the UK declaring war and effectively starting WWII. By June of 1940, it seemed pretty obvious that France was going to fall, Italy entered the war on Germany’s side. Mussolini knew that Italy’s army was way too small to stand much of a chance against Britain’s army. However, he thought that they could essentially steal territories from France when their army fell. Then he planned a major offensive in North Africa where Italian troops outnumbered British ones.”

“Wait, slow down. What does this have to do with fearbaiting?”

“That kind of ties in with the Blackshirts and the March on Rome. They used violence to stifle socialists which scared people into following them. The king elected him as Prime Minister to stop any unnecessary violence which lead to rise of fascism in the nation.” Mason explained.

“And then they helped the Nazis in WWII.” Corey interjected.

“Yeah, pretty much.” I said.

Liam nodded, still looking vaguely confused. “I need a fucking break.”

I laughed as he laid face down on the floor and fell silent.

“Honestly, I could use a break too.” Mason said.

I pushed my books from my lap and shifting so that I was curled up on top of Liam’s pillows. “Sounds like a good plan.”

A minute later, my phone chimed and I found a text from Stilinski. “Hey, Stilinski just texted me. ‘Body was sent to the morgue for an autopsy, coroner has no idea what’s going on. PD is trying to keep this quiet for now.’”

“Will they be able to find out who it is when they do the autopsy?” Corey asked.

I shrugged and dropped my phone back onto the bed. “Definitely not by looking at it. But they can take a sample of DNA and run it through the database. Even then, there’s no guarantee that they’ll find any definitive results.”

“Why not?” Liam asked.

“If there’s no sample of their DNA in the database, they won’t be able to find them.” Mason said before looking to me. “But can’t they find someone else with similar DNA? Like, a parent or a sibling?”

I nodded. “If they’re in the system. That could help narrow it down. We just have to wait and see what they find out when they do the autopsy.”

“Does this mean we can go to the library now? There’s a study group.” Corey said.

“I guess so. But honestly, I already put on my comfy clothes.” I said, gesturing to the oversized blue sweatshirt and grey Adidas leggings I had on. “I don’t leave the house again after I put on the comfy clothes.”

“It’s true. She really doesn’t.” Liam said. “And my brain is fried so I’m going to pass on the study group.”

“Yeah, same.” Mason said. “If you want to go, you can.”

Corey seemed pretty set on the idea of going so he packed up his stuff, we said goodbye, and he left.

I watched from my spot on the bed as Liam turned on his Xbox and him and Mason started playing a game.

Another text popped up on my phone and I opened it.

 **Nolan** : _Hey, are you busy?_

 **Me** : _Taking a break from studying. I have a history test tomorrow._

 **Nolan** : _I was hoping you could help me study for bio. I have a test and I have no idea what I’m doing._

I smiled before typing a response.

 **Me** : _Sorry, Holloway. I totally would but I’m kind of exhausted. There’s a study group at the library tonight, maybe someone there could help you._

Before getting a response from him, I’d already fallen asleep.

I’m not sure how long it was before I felt a pair of hands on my shoulders, vigorously shaking me back to consciousness.

“What’s goin’ on?” I mumbled.

“Lauren, you gotta get up. Scott just texted me.” Liam said.

I pushed myself up, resting on my elbows. “What happened?”

“Lori found Brett’s lacrosse stick, it was broken and covered in blood. Brett’s blood.”

“Is he okay?” I asked.

“Ren, he’s missing.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lauren tries to help locate Brett while also attempting to deal with Nolan’s behavior. When they fail to save Brett and Lori, she prepares to go on a rampage to destroy whoever it is that killed them while also helping Liam deal with his emotions.

Within minutes of finding out that Brett was missing, I already had shoes on, my keys in hand, and was ready to do whatever necessary to find him.

“So what’s the plan?” I asked Liam.

“I’m going with Scott, Lori, and Malia to look in the woods. But I don’t think you guys should come. It’s too dangerous.” He said.

“Fine. I’m calling Lydia for help.” I said, grabbing my phone and dialing her number.

When she picked up, I didn’t both exchanging pleasantries. “Brett’s missing. We need your help. Can you meet us at the high school in ten minutes?”

“Yeah, I’ll be right there.” She said.

We hung up a second later.

“Okay, Mason. We’re going to find Corey, tell him what’s going on, Lydia’s going to meet us. Maybe she can help figure something out. And Liam, obviously you’re going with Scott.” I said.

We all walked out of the house.

As Liam closed the front door behind him, I turned to hug him tightly. “Be careful tonight, please. I don’t want anything happening to you.”

He nodded and hugged me back. “I’m always careful. Let me know if you come up with any ideas, okay?”

I nodded back. “Of course. I love you.”

“Love you too.” He said as Mason and I got into my car.

I pulled out of the driveway and headed towards the high school, my speed at least five miles over the limit at all times.

Lydia’s car was already in the lot when we pulled up.

“Find Corey.” I told Mason. “We’ll meet up with you in a minute.”

I walked up to Lydia and she reached out, giving my hand a gentle squeeze. “Lauren, take a deep breath.”

“What? Why?” I asked.

She narrowed her eyes slightly. “Because you’re freaking out and you need to calm down. If you get upset or angry, that’s not going to help.”

I followed her instructions and took a few deep breaths, feeling my heart rate slow down. “Okay, better.”

“Let’s go find the boys, then we’re going to try to initiate a premonition.” She said.

“Do you think it will work?” I asked as she pulled me towards the school, still holding on my hand.

She shrugged. “I don’t know. But we have to try something.”

We found Mason and Corey a minute later and Lydia guided us towards one of the science labs. We took a seat at one of the lab tables and watched as Lydia set up one of the Bunsen burners and lit it.

She stared into the blue flame, a pen in her hand a blank paper in front of her.

Mason and Corey were talking beside me but I wasn’t really hearing the words that they were saying. My mind was reeling, running through various scenarios or ideas of where Brett could be.

I heard Lydia tell them to stop talking and snapped back into the present.

Corey reached out towards the set of Newton balls sitting on the desk and lifted one, letting it clank back together with the rest of them. Mason stopped them from making anymore noise and I gently smacked Corey’s hand away. “Stop that.”

I looked back to Lydia, seeing her eyes narrow and suddenly she was scribbling things on the paper.

She filled almost the entire paper before snapping out of it.

However, nothing on the paper really made much sense.

“Does anyone speak Chinese?” Corey asked.

“My phone does!” Mason said, pulling his phone out and a snapping a picture of the writing.

“What’s that Roman numeral?” I asked Lydia.

“68.” She responded.

A second later, Mason spoke up. “68, that’s what the Chinese says too.”

“E, R.” Lydia muttered.

“ER what? Emergency room?” I asked.

“Erbium. The atomic number for Erbium is 68.” She said, turning to look at the large Period Table posted on the wall.

I leaned forward on the table. “Does this whole thing just say 68? 68 what?”

“I have no idea.”

“Okay. So what do we try next?” Mason asked.

“I’m going back to where my last premonition was. And I’m going alone.”

Mason and Corey looked down.

“Okay, great. You can do that. We’ll go the library, see if we find anything there.” I said.

Lydia went off on her own while Mason and Corey followed me to the library.

“What do you think we’re going to find in the library?” Mason asked.

I shook my head. “I’m not sure. It’s just a hunch.”

“A hunch?” He questioned.

I spun around quickly, feeling my heart beat faster. “Yes, Mason, a hunch. I don’t know. All I know is we have to figure out what it means, and we have to find Brett. I’m not stopping until we find him.”

His eyes went wide at the anger in my voice.

“Sorry.” I mumbled. “I’m sorry. I’m just scared.”

We walked into the library and found an empty table. There were still a lot of students studying so that’s what we pretended to do as we talked quietly amongst ourselves.

“What’s significant about the number 68? What does it mean? Is there something from history? Mythology? Anything?” I whispered.

Mason shook his head. “No, nothing that I know of.”

My forehead met the tabletop with a soft thump. “What are we going to do?”

I lifted my head as Mason rattled off ideas. “68 miles, 68 degrees? Route 68?”

“Lydia will call us when she has something.” Corey said.

“But how long is that going to be?” I asked.

A small pile of books landed on the table next to me and I looked over, seeing Nolan standing beside me.

“Hey, Nolan.” I said. “Are you still studying for biology?”

“Trying, yeah. I thought you weren’t coming.” He took a seat.

I shook my head. “I wasn’t planning on it. What are you working on?”

“Um, trying to understand how organism evolve and change.” His eyes flicked from me, over to Mason and then to Corey. “Like, how a fish can turn into an alligator.”

“Uh, alligators aren’t fish, they’re reptiles.” Mason said.

I watched as Nolan’s pen scribbled across the page of his notebook, writing down what Mason told him.

“That hatch from fertilized eggs.” He continued.

“And isn’t the test on DNA versus RNA?” Corey asked.

Nolan’s head snapped up and I noticed how wide his eyes were. “Do you think DNA changes?”

“You mean like mutations? Damaged DNA?” I asked. “Yeah, it can. If cells are damaged and the body doesn’t destroy them, they replicate and produce more damaged cells which causes cancer.”

“So organism can change, organisms change.” Nolan said with an almost nervous chuckle. “They can change right in front of your eyes.”

“I don’t think this is on the test.” Corey said.

“Yeah, I wonder if organisms can change, and then change back. Like, they can be two things at once.”

My eyebrows furrowed and I turned to Mason. “Some fish can, right?”

“Parrotfish are protogynous hermaphrodites, both male and female. Hawkfish change and change back. As well as earthworms, of course…”

Corey cut him off. “That’s definitely not on the test, or any high school test.”

“I wonder if any of us have changed.” Nolan spoke.

I felt my heart hammering in my chest. This was not good.

“And if we did,” he continued, “would there be any way to tell?”

“Like a DNA test?” I asked. “For what?”

“I was thinking a different type of test.”

Before anyone could respond or react, Nolan reached out, driving the tip of his pen through the back of Corey’s hand.

Blood spurted out, drops of crimson landing on the table as he pulled his hand to his chest.

“Nolan, what the fuck are you doing?” I shrieked.

We all stood and Nolan grabbed for Corey’s hand, pulling it towards him to see that the wound had already healed.

“Look, look at him. Look!” He shouted.

I could see everyone in the library staring towards us.

Corey pulled his hand away again and Nolan turned to walk out, leaving everyone to continue staring.

“I’ll be back.” I said before chasing after Nolan.

I caught up to him the hallway. “Nolan! Wait!”

He stopped and spun around to face me, the bloody pen still in his hand.

“What the fuck was that?” I asked. “Why did you do that to Corey?”

He shook his head. “You know why. You all know! But you won’t tell me!”

I sighed. “I don’t know, Nolan. Tell me.”

He shook his head again, taking off down the hallway.

I continued following him and I watched as he turned a corner, nearly bumping into Lydia.

“Sorry.” Lydia muttered.

His backpack slid from his shoulder, revealing the back of his lacrosse hoodie.

She turned to face him and we both realized that his number was 68.

“Hey, 68!” She called out. “Hey. Hey!”

She grabbed his wrist and spun him around. “Do you know anything about Brett?”

“Who?” He asked.

She grabbed his other wrist. “Brett Talbot. Lacrosse player. What happened to him?”

“I don’t know any Brett.” He paused, examining her face. “You’re one of them, aren’t you?”

“One of who?” She asked.

I finally spoke up. “Just let him go Lydia. He doesn’t know anything. And he’s being a grade A asshole tonight.”

He pulled away and took off running down the hall.

She turned back to me, looking for answers.

I explained how he’d attacked Corey in the library.

“It wasn’t to hurt him.” She said.

I nodded. “I know. He’s trying to expose him. He’s been acting suspicious for a while. I thought he was just scared but I guess not. He’s starting to act out now.”

“Is he the one you’re friends with?”

“Yeah. Well, I thought I was. But stabbing Corey was really not cool so I’m not so sure if I’d call him my friend right now.” I shook my head. “Whatever, let’s just go find Corey and Mason again.”

We were heading towards the library when my phone rang.

Melissa’s name flashed across the screen and I hit the answer button before lifting it to my ear. “Hello?”

“Hey, Lauren, there’s something you should probably know about that body you found.” She said.

We were just approaching Mason and Corey so I put the phone on speaker and we all gathered around to listen.

“Okay, what’s up?”

She took a deep breath. “We ran a DNA test. And – And there’s nothing there.”

“You didn’t find anyone to match?” I asked.

“No, I didn’t find any DNA. There’s no DNA, no cell structure, nothing. There’s literally nothing there.”

My jaw dropped. “Um, that’s not…Melissa, that isn’t possible.”

“I know.” She said. “And that’s not the only thing that’s weird about it.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“It terrified me. I’ve worked in that hospital and have been going into the morgue to collect samples for years. And I’ve never felt that kind of fear because of a body before.”

I chewed on the corner of my lip, wondering if I should tell her what I felt. “Yeah, I know what you mean. While we were in the locker room with it earlier, I was freaking out and I couldn’t figure out why. Maybe we should ask Argent.”

“Already did. I had to call him to help get the sample. _He_ was terrified of it too.”

My eyes widened. “I didn’t think he was afraid of anything.”

“There’s definitely not much that scares him. But this, whatever it is, did.”

“Okay, um, well, thanks for letting me know. If we have any ideas, we’ll let you know. Call me if you find anything else out.” I sighed.

“Will do.” She said. “Bye, Lauren.”

“Bye.” I said, hanging up.

No one spoke for a minute, everyone seemed unsure of how to react.

“That explains why Liam didn’t smell it.” I said quietly.

“What?” Corey asked.

“Liam couldn’t smell the blood, the body. If there’s no DNA or anything, there would be nothing to smell. It’s almost like it doesn’t even exist.”

Mason shook his head, looking at the ground. “How can this even be happening?”

“It can’t. This can’t be described scientifically. This is something supernatural, it has to be.” I explained in a hushed tone. “And Brett’s still missing. And Nolan attacked Corey. This is too much for us to deal with all at once.”

Without even thinking, I slid down the wall to sit on the floor. I pulled my legs close to my chest and rested my forehead on my knees. My mind was still reeling, my brain desperately searching for any minuscule idea of where Brett could be.

“Lauren?” Lydia said softly, kneeling in front of me.

I lifted my head to look at her. “Yeah?”

She looked surprised to see tears spilling down my cheeks. “Sweetie, why don’t you go home for tonight? You can wait for Liam to get back.”

I shook my head. “I can’t. I have to help figure out where Brett is. I can’t just go home and relax. I can’t just sit there. I have to do something.”

She took both of my hands in hers. “Lauren, please. If you think of anything, you can call us. But right now, it seems like we’re at a dead end. Being here isn’t helping anything.”

“Fine. But there’s something I have to do first.” My eyes flickered up to Corey and Mason then back to Lydia. “Can one of you take Mason home? I have to take care of something.”

Lydia nodded. “Of course.”

“Wait, where are you going?” Mason asked as Lydia helped me to my feet.

“I’m going to figure out what the fuck is wrong with Nolan.” I said, pulling my keys from my pocket. “I’ll text you guys when I get home or if I hear from Liam.”

I took off down the hall before saying goodbye. When I made it to the parking lot and got into my car, there were still tears dripping from my face. I wiped them away with the sleeve of my hoodie as I started the car and peeled out of the lot.

I’d only been to Nolan’s house once before when he needed a ride home from school one day but I remembered where it was. And within a few minutes, I was parking next to the curb.

My feet carried me up to the porch and I rang the doorbell, folding my arms across my chest as I waited for someone to answer.

The door opened a blonde woman smiled at me. “Hi, can I help you?”

“Hi, Mrs Holloway. My name’s Lauren. Could I speak with Nolan, please? I know it’s kind of late and I’m sorry but it’s important.” I rushed.

She nodded. “Yes, of course. Would you like to come in?”

I shook my head. “No, thank you. I’ll just wait here.”

She called out to her son and he came to the door a moment later, his eyes widening when he saw me standing there. He stepped out onto the porch, closing the door behind him. “What are you doing here?”

I scoffed. “You really have to ask? Nolan, what the fuck is going on with you?”

He didn’t speak. His mouth opened but nothing came out.

“Honestly, I should slap you for what you did to Corey.”

“You’re asking what’s going on with me but what about him?” Nolan said, voice shaking. “I’ve seen…”

I peered up at him. “What? You’ve seen what?”

He shook his head angrily. “You know what. You know why I did that. You know everything but you’re trying to pretend like you don’t.”

My hands curled into fists and I stepped closer to him, getting in his face. “If you think you know so much, then why don’t you say it? Tell me what I know.”

His blue eyes refused to meet mine and he took a step away from me. “I don’t have to say it.”

My phone began ringing in my pocket and I groaned. But when I saw Liam’s face on the screen, I stepped away from Nolan and answered it. “Hey, what’s going on?”

“Where are you?”

I could hear the sadness in his voice immediately. “I’m taking care of something. Tell me what’s going on? Are you okay?”

“Brett’s dead. Lori, too.”

I barely processed what had been said before fresh tears began pouring from my eyes. “No. No, that can’t be.”

“They killed them. Hunters killed them.”

I forced myself to square my shoulders and try to stop crying. “I’ll be home soon.”

“Hurry.” He said quietly before the line went dead.

I shoved my phone back into my pocket before facing Nolan.

“Are you okay?” He asked, seeing tears in my eyes.

I shook my head. “No. No, Nolan, I’m not. Because I just found out that two of my friends are dead. I really do not have the time or patience to deal with your bullshit too. And you want to know something? You need to stop projecting your fears onto other people because you aren’t the only one who’s scared of things around here.”

Tears sprung up in his eyes and I watched as he blinked them away.

“Oh, I’m sorry? Did I upset you?” I rolled my eyes. “Get over it. I’m not going to walk on eggshells around you just because of something scared you last year. You said it yourself, I was there too. I saw the same thing you did. And I don’t run around stabbing people just because I’m scared of something.”

His shoulders slumped but he still managed to keep eye contact with me.

“I know you have your problems and I’m sorry about that. Truly, I am. But we’re all going through shit, Nolan. Every single person. So just do what the rest of us do and suffer in silence instead of taking your shit out on people who have done nothing to you.” I said, my tone softer than before, but still laced with a certain harshness.

“I’m sorry.” He whispered.

“Sorry doesn’t help anything.” I said, walking back to my car.

Nolan watched as I took off down the road, tires squealing.

I’d upset him. I was harsh. But I was hurt.

Brett was dead. Lori was dead. Not just dead, murdered. Someone had killed them, a new hunter.

My hands gripped the steering wheel so tightly that my knuckles were white and my fingers aching. I was so distracted that I nearly drove past my own house but I slammed onto the brakes before turning into the driveway.

I cut the engine and sprinted into the house. Liam wasn’t in the living room or the kitchen so I ran up to his room, shoving the door open to see him crying in his bed.

When I sat down next to him, I was already crying again.

He was laying on his stomach, his face buried in a pillow as his body shook with sobs.

My hand landed on his back, rubbing the spot between his shoulder blades. “Li?”

He lifted his head to look at me. “We couldn’t save them, Ren. We tried. It – It was so close. We had them out of there and then…”

I nodded, shushing him gently when I heard him struggle to catch his breath between sobs. “I know, I know. Just breathe, Liam.”

“I can’t.” He groaned, rolling onto his back. “I can’t breathe.”

“Yes, you can.” I said, using all of my strength to pull him into a sitting position. I used one of my hands to grab his face, forcing him to look at me. “Liam, you can do anything. We’ve made it through so much already. We will make it through this too.”

“How?” He asked. “I shifted in front of people. A lot of people.”

“Okay. That’s not great news but we can deal with it.” I said.

He rolled his eyes. “They think I’m a monster. What if someone comes after me next?”

“I will ruin anyone who tries.” I assured him.

My brother sighed and wiped tears from his face. “Lauren, you can’t just…”

I cut him off. “You know damn well that I can. “

“And if someone has a gun pointed at you?” He challenged.

I laughed for a second. “Liam, I’m not afraid of getting shot. I’m not afraid of dying.”

He opened his mouth to speak but I held up one finger to stop him.

“No. I’m not scared of death. I’m scared of what could happen to you if I do nothing. I’m scared of you suffering the same fate as Brett. If keeping you alive means a bullet in my chest, then I welcome it.”


	4. Chapter 4

“Liam, I swear to god, if you don’t get out of bed in five seconds, I’m going to fight you. I know that I’ll lose but I will fight you with these hands.”   
He groaned in response and pulled his pillow over his head.   
“Don’t make me call Scott.” I threatened.   
Again, he ignored me and wrapped his duvet tighter around his body.   
I threw my arms up in the air. “Alright, fine! Have it your way.”  
I dialed Scott’s number while I was walking downstairs. He picked up just as I was pouring cereal into a bowl. “Hey, Scott, I need your help.”  
“What’s up?” He asked.  
I sighed. “I’ve been trying to get Liam out of the bed for the past thirty minutes but he’s refusing to get up. For the first fifteen minutes he at least yelled back at me while I was yelling at him to get up but now he’s just refusing to even speak to me. Which, by the way, is really annoying, because if I’m going to yell at someone, I at least expect them to yell back.”   
He laughed quietly. “Yeah, I’ll be right over. Maybe he’ll listen to me.”  
I smiled. “Thanks, Scott.”  
A few minutes later, just as I was finishing my bowl of cereal, there was a knock at the front door. I placed my bowl in the sink before going to unlock the door.   
“Good morning.” I smiled, letting Scott into the house.  
He smiled back. “How are you feeling?”  
I nodded to myself, not surprised that he would be concerned. “I’m okay. For the most part, anyway.”  
“You sure?” His eyebrows quirked up. “I know you were close with Brett too.”  
“Yeah, I’m sure. I mean, it really sucks but there’s nothing I can do. I can’t bring him or Lori back. And truthfully, I think that I want to find the people responsible for this rather than sit around and cry about it all day.” I said, ignoring the tears that began to well in my eyes. “It sucks though. It really sucks, Scott.”  
The alpha pulled me into his chest, his arms wrapping tightly around my shoulders. “I’m sorry, Ren.”  
I squeezed my arms around him. “Yeah, me too.”  
I felt him press a soft kiss to the top of my head before he pulled away.  
Scott moved towards the stairs to go talk to my brother while I lingered in the kitchen. Since it was bound to be a rough day, I figured that there was at least one thing I could do to make it better for Liam.   
So while Scott was upstairs trying to get him out of bed, I got started on breakfast. There weren’t many things that I was very good at cooking but I could do an omelet. Once I had the first omelet in the pan, I sliced and few bagels and toasted them. I was just sliding the second omelet out of the skillet and onto a plate when the boys came downstairs.   
“I smell food.” Liam said.   
“How astute of you.” I teased, setting both plates on the breakfast bar. “Scott, there’s some for you too.”  
“You didn’t have to make me breakfast.” He smiled.  
I shrugged. “I know. But I wanted to. Apple juice or orange juice?”  
“Orange.” They both said.  
I pulled two glasses from the cabinet before filling them with juice and setting them in front of the boys who were already shoveling the food in.  
“Aren’t you going to have an omelet?” Scott asked around a mouthful of bagel.  
“She doesn’t eat eggs.” Liam responded before I had the chance. “She never did, even when we were little.”  
I smiled. “He’s right. Besides, I have to finish getting ready. I can’t leave without putting on my face.”  
“You were complaining that we were going to be late if I didn’t get up and you haven’t even started your makeup?” Liam asked.  
“Don’t attack me, Liam.” I called as I made my way back to my room.   
I could hear Scott laughing when I closed the door to my bedroom and sat down to put on my makeup. Looking in the mirror, I let out a heavy sigh. There were dark circles around my eyes and I looked exhausted.   
It didn’t help that I hadn’t slept in my own bed the night before. But seeing the state that Liam was in, I’d dragged my massive beanbag chair into his room along with my fluffiest blanket and curled up next to his bed to sleep. Despite my best efforts, I didn’t get much sleep. Even after Liam had finally passed out, I was wide awake.   
I was worried about what Liam had said. If there were hunters back in Beacon Hills, he was in danger. The entire pack was in danger. As was any other supernatural creature in the city. For what seemed like the first time, being human put me at an advantage. I realized then that my role in the pack was important as ever. For once, there was a more even playing field. If we were up against hunters, I would be able to fight without having to worry about the same level of danger. I could fight another human and not have to worry about having my throat ripped out.   
The makeup laying in front of me didn’t seem so important anymore, so I stood up without applying anything except a bit of chapstick. I pulled a pair of heeled boots from my closet and slid them on before picking up my backpack from where it had been dropped next to my desk.   
When I came back downstairs, Scott had already left and Liam was putting his plate in the sink. “You’re still not ready?”  
“I am, actually.” I said, pulling my bag up onto my shoulder.   
“No makeup?” He asked.  
I shook my head. “No, not today. It seems kind of silly to worry about that right now.”   
“Is that why you’re dressed differently too?”  
I looked down at the outfit I was wearing. “What’s wrong with how I’m dressed?”  
“Nothing. It’s just different. Usually you dress all cute and now you just look like you’re ready to kick someone’s ass.” He joked.  
“I’m always ready to kick someone’s ass.” I pointed out.  
He nodded. “Well, congrats, now you look the part.”  
I rolled my eyes. “Come on, let’s go.”  
As we were climbing into his truck a few minutes later, I asked him about what Scott said that had convinced him to get out of bed.  
“He told me to be Clark Kent.”   
I smiled. “Of course he did.”   
“I’m still nervous.” He admitted.  
I looked over at him, frowning slightly. “I know, so am I. But it’s going to be okay. We just have to get through today without incident.”  
“Then what?” He asked.  
“Do it again tomorrow.”   
He sighed, his shoulders slumping and one of his hands falling from the steering wheel.   
“Hey, just remember your mantra.” I reminded him as I toyed with the zipper on my leather jacket. “Just… Don’t think about what people are going to say or think. Even if there are people who know about what happened last night, just ignore them. You aren’t a monster. And neither were Brett and Lori. Get through this – through today – for them.”   
He nodded, turning into the parking lot. “Yeah. Yeah, okay.”  
I smiled. “And if anyone fucks with you I’ll just punch them directly in the mouth.”  
“Please don’t.”   
I smirked and slid out of the truck. “I make no promises.”  
We walked towards the building together. I kept an eye out for anyone who might be shooting Liam weird looks but everyone seemed to be minding their own business. Even when we stepped into the building, things seemed pretty normal.   
“Okay. Not bad so far.” Mason said as he approached us. “This might be easier than we thought.”  
“Maybe.” Liam and I muttered at the same time.  
Mason looked me up and down. “I didn’t know you owned clothes like that.”  
“We’ve already been over it. It’s because she’s ready to kick ass.” Liam said.  
We turned down the next hallway and suddenly everyone stopped talking and turned to look at us, more importantly, at Liam.  
“And that’s why.” I whispered.  
Liam stopped, falling a step behind Mason and me.  
Without hesitating, I grabbed his elbow and pulled him alongside us, holding my head high and shooting glares at the people who stared.  
We stopped once we got to our lockers and while I was entering my combination, I could tell that Liam was listening to the whispers coming from people. I turned my attention away from the locker and towards my brother.  
“Just block it out.” Mason said.   
“They know.” Liam responded.   
I shook my head. “They don’t know shit. It’s all rumors.”  
“They know everything. Two sophomores on the lacrosse team were there last night.” Corey alerted us.  
“Corey, I love you dearly but why did you have to say that?” I whined.  
“It was late, it was pitch black out, and there was fog on the road.” Mason said.  
He was wrong, unfortunately. It was a clear night and the street lights made things easier to see. And Corey felt the need to point that out.  
“I have to get out of here.” Liam whispered.  
“No.” I folded my arms across my chest. “I’m putting my foot down. You are not leaving.”   
“She’s right, Liam. If you leave, these rumors never stop. You gotta just convince them that you’re a regular kid.”  
“I’m not a regular kid.”  
“Look, remember what Scott said? Be Clark Kent.”   
“Clark Kent turns into a guy with a red and blue outfit and a cape. I turn into a monster with claws and fangs.”  
“Do you want a cape?” I asked.  
Mason shot me a look that told me I was not being helpful.   
“Then just get through the day without shifting.” Corey said.  
“People are saying that Brett and Lori died in a car accident. We know the truth. They didn’t just die.”   
I nodded at Mason’s words. “That’s what I said. We know what happened, we know about the hunters. So we have to make it through all of this for them.”  
Two girls walked past our group, staying as far away as possible and shooting dirty looks at Liam and Corey.  
“Do you have a fucking problem?” I snapped, stepping towards them.   
They paused to glare at me but neither of them had the guts to say anything.  
“If looks could kill…” I began, smirking. “I would still be perfectly fine because neither of you are even close to being intimidating. So, unless you’re gonna step up your game or say something, then I suggest walking away.”   
I turned back to the boys, expecting the girls to walk away.   
“Sorry to hear about your friends.” One of them said and I froze, feeling my heart pounding in my chest.  
“Yeah, it’s a real shame about that car accident.” The other spoke.   
I spun around and lunged at them but before I could swing, Liam hooked his arms around my waist and pulled me back.   
The girls laughed as they started walking away down the hall, my brother still keeping me from going at them.  
My chest was heaving and my hands were curled into such tight fists that my fingernails were digging harshly into the skin of my palms.   
Corey stepped in front of me, breaking my eye contact with the girls. “I know you can’t shift but you need to get through the day without attacking anyone.”  
I huffed, pushing Liam away from me. “I will tell you the same thing I told Liam: ‘I make no promises.’”  
I adjusted the hem of my shirt which had been pulled up slightly when I was trying to get away from Liam so that I could fight.   
“Why don’t we just go to class?” Mason asked.  
We all nodded and took off down the hallway towards our classes.   
A few hours later, we all met up in the hallway again, falling into stride next to each other.   
“Overheard Nolan talking to Gabe.” Corey said.  
“You’re spying on them?” I asked.   
He looked over at me. “Since he stabbed me? Yeah.”  
I nodded. “Fair enough. Continue.”  
“Nolan’s gonna try to get you to shift.” He told Liam. “He needs proof and he wants everyone to see it.”  
“So what’s he gonna do?” Liam asked.  
“I – I don’t know. That’s all I heard.” Corey explained.   
My hands balled up into fists again. “I swear to god, if he stabs you with a pen… I don’t care if he was my friend, I will hit him.”  
“Could you stop obsessing about what people are saying?” Mason asked my brother when we stopped at the end of the hallway.   
Liam’s eyes were focused on the opposite end of the hall. “Nolan’s coming.”  
We looked around for a place that he could duck into and hide but didn’t see anything right away. Liam noticed that we were standing right outside the guidance office so he pulled the door open and ducked inside, pulling down the small curtain blocking the window on the door.   
Mason, Corey, and I were left standing in the hallway awkwardly when Nolan and Gabe appeared. I was tempted to go over and say something to them but clearly, Mason could tell what my plan was so he grabbed my wrist to stop me.  
“Don’t.” He said quietly. “Don’t start anything, that could make it worse.”  
I sighed but nodded in agreement, knowing that he was right.   
After a few moments, Gabe and Nolan left. Which was good, considering that Liam came out of the room a minute later.   
“We need to talk. Now.” He said.  
I nodded towards an empty classroom. “In there.”  
We walked into the room and I shut the door behind us.   
“Alright, what’s going on?” Mason asked.   
“She’s the hunter.”   
“Who?” I asked.  
“Monroe.”   
I narrowed my eyes at my brother. “You’re sure?”  
He nodded once.   
I opened my mouth but no words came out.   
“How do you know?” Corey asked.  
“She has scratches on her neck. She told me they were from a branch in the woods but I could tell they were claw marks. And she had books in her office, stuff about the supernatural. And just… The way she was acting. It’s obvious. She’s the new hunter.” He explained.  
I ran my hand through my hair. Mason was in the middle of saying something when an involuntary gasp escaped my mouth.   
All three boys turned to look at me questioningly.   
“Of fucking course. Of. Fucking. Course. It all makes sense. I can’t believe I didn’t think of this before!” I let out a laugh that was close to sounding hysterical.   
They all looked at me like I’d finally lost my mind.  
“Nolan’s been meeting with Monroe for months now. He was in the library last year, clearly Monroe must’ve seen the Beast too. They both had experiences. It scared the shit out of them. Monroe figured it out and she helped Nolan figure it out. He’s on her side, and now Gabe too. And I can only imagine how many other people.” I explained.   
I watched as the realization set in on all of their faces.   
“So what do we do?” Corey asked.  
“First, we tell Scott. Second, we make it through today. Third, we kill her.” I said.  
Liam was typing a text when he spoke. “I agree with everything up until the murder.”  
I frowned. “She wants to kill you. She killed Brett and Lori. Why should she get to live?”  
No one answered me.   
I growled lowly. “Fine. Whatever. No one talk to me. I’m going to talk to Monroe myself.”  
They tried to stop me as I left the classroom but I ignored them, walking straight towards Monroe’s office.   
“Miss Dunbar, can I help you?” She asked when I pushed the door open.   
I let it swing shut behind me and glared at her. “No. I don’t need anything from you. But you should know one thing.”  
“And what might that be?” Her tone was challenging.   
I placed my palms on her desk and leaned forward. “I know the truth. I know about you. And you’re not going to get away with a god damn thing if I have anything to do with it.”  
“Are you threatening a staff member?”  
I laughed humorlessly. “No, Tamora. I’m warning you. No matter what you’ve seen – or what you think you’ve seen – I promise you, I can be just as terrifying.”   
She glared at me from her seat. “Are you finished?”  
“I’ve barely started.” I glanced at the scratches on her neck that Liam mentioned. “Good to see he did some damage.”  
I stood up straight and turned to walk out of the office, I could feel her eyes burning into my back the whole way.   
My conversation with Monroe had cut into class time and I was late for biology. I rushed through the empty hallways towards the classroom. When I walked in, the room felt tense. And I noticed my brother sitting alone.   
“Sorry I’m late, Mrs Finch.” I said when she looked at me. “Won’t happen again, I promise.”  
She nodded. “That’s okay. Liam needs a partner anyway.”  
I took the seat next to him and leaned over to whisper “What’s going on?”  
“I’ll explain later.” He said back. “But we have to figure out how I’m getting out of here. Corey said the entire lacrosse team are going to be blocking the exits so that Gabe and Nolan can try to get me to shift.”  
I sighed. “Wonderful.”  
We didn’t talk about it much more as we worked on that day’s lab, but we were both distracted the entire time.   
“I have an idea.” I told him when I took my seat after handing in our finished lab reports.   
Corey and Mason were already finished so we turned to talk to them.   
“Alright, listen. Corey, you can make Liam invisible too, right?” I asked.  
He nodded. “Yeah, of course.”  
“Okay, so that’s what we’ll do. The three of you all go into the bathroom, Corey you do your magic, you all come back out, only 1/3 of you visible. Then Mason and I will walk down the hall ahead of you guys so that no one runs into an invisible person, and we can get right past the lacrosse team.”   
“It’s a good plan. It could work.” Mason said. “I don’t have anything better.”  
I tapped the top of the desk lightly. “Alright, great.”  
A few minutes later, the bell rang and we all stood up.   
I followed the boys down the hallway to the bathroom and leaned up against the wall outside. A minute later, Mason came back out. I fell into step beside him, Corey and my brother trailing behind us.   
There were boys blocking all of the exits we came across so we kept searching for new ways out.   
We ended up almost surrounded in the middle of a hallway when Mason and I noticed Gabe coming towards us.  
“Okay, turn around. Turn around, let’s go.” I said quietly.   
The boys began following us when suddenly Nolan came around the corner.   
“Oh. Hey, Nolan.” Mason said.   
I glanced behind me and saw Gabe standing barely half a foot behind Liam. The plan didn’t work.   
Suddenly a cloud of white surrounded us and I watched in horror as Corey and Liam became visible again, both covered in whatever white powder Nolan had thrown.   
Gabe’s hands landed on my brother’s shoulders and he threw him to the ground.   
I lunged at Gabe and managed to shove him hard before two sets of hands and grabbed me and were pulling me back. I looked to see two boys from the lacrosse team holding tightly to my arms.   
“Let go of me.” I snarled.   
One boy’s grip tightened, his fingers digging harshly into my bicep.   
Gabe and Nolan were going after Liam so I mustered up all of the strength I had and pulled hard, my right arm slipping away from one of the boys. I shoved the other one away from me, sending him stumbling into the wall.   
I rushed towards the classroom that Gabe had just throwing my brother into. Just as I passed through the doorway and was about to jump on Gabe, more hands latched onto me. These two boys were a lot bigger than the last ones and no matter how hard I pushed and pulled, their grip didn’t falter.   
I could only watch as the fight continued.   
“Get up. Get up!” Nolan yelled at Liam, who was groaning on the floor.   
As he tried to stand, Gabe kicked him back down and I felt my body growing warm.  
My heart was racing in my chest and all I wanted was to beat the shit out of him.   
“What are you trying to hide, Liam?” Gabe asked, pulling Liam up and slamming him against the wall. “Your eyes? Huh? Open your eyes.”  
Liam opened his eyes a second later and I felt the smallest hint of relief when they were their normal shade of blue.   
Gabe stepped back but Nolan walked closer.   
I watched helplessly as he pulled his arm back before punching Liam directly in the face.   
“You asshole!” I shouted, pulling hard and trying to wrestle my arms away from my boys holding me. A particularly hard jerk almost freed one of my arms but I wasn’t quick enough.   
Nolan’s eyes flickered over to me, shocked by my words.   
Liam wiped blood from his nose and I could hear Mason shouting from behind me, but two more boys stopped him from helping.  
“Are you just going to let us do this to you?” Nolan asked Liam.   
A second later, Gabe threw his first punch.   
Liam leaned to the side, groaning in pain.   
Nolan grabbed his head aggressively. “You know you can take us. All you have to do is change.”  
I could tell that Liam was only getting more and more worked up. When I spoke, my voice was barely a whisper, but I knew my brother would hear me. “What three things cannot long be hidden?”  
“The sun…” Liam said quietly.  
“What?” Nolan asked, seeming more confused and curious than angry.   
“The sun, the moon, the truth.” His voice was shaking and his eyebrows were furrowed.   
Nolan got in his face. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”  
“Who cares?” Gabe said, pushing Nolan out of the way and delivering a punch that sent Liam to the ground.   
Mason and I were both fighting against the guys holding us back as Gabe and Nolan continued their attack on my brother.   
“You’re fighting it.” Nolan said when my brother grunted loudly. “But you can’t hold back forever.”  
Mrs Finch came into the room and I looked over at her with hopeful eyes. “Mrs Finch, you have to do something.”  
“Sometimes it’s… It’s best to let them work things out on their own.” She said before exiting the room swiftly.   
I shrieked in disbelief. “Are you kidding me?”  
Gabe grabbed Liam’s hair, holding his head and place and kneeing him hard in the face.   
I looked at the ground, taking note of what shoes I was wearing. The thick high heels of my boot seemed like the best weapon I had at the moment. So without a second thought, I lifted my right foot and slammed the heel down on the foot of the blond guy next to me.   
“Fuck!” He shouted, lifting his foot in pain and squeezing my arm harshly.   
Before I could try again, they pushed me to my knees and held me down.   
Liam rolled onto his back, spitting a fountain of blood from his mouth.   
That’s when I started crying. All I wanted was to help my brother but there was nothing I could do, I was too weak.   
Gabe’s hand fisted in the front of my brother’s shirt and he was about to punch him again when I heard someone shout.   
“What the hell is going on?”   
I looked over, seeing Coach Finstock pushing his way through the crowd of students.   
He pulled Gabe away from Liam. “Back off! Hey! Get to the principal’s office! Now!”  
He pushed Gabe and Nolan towards the door and stumbled out into the hallway.   
When Finstock saw me, he yelled at the boys holding me down. “Get your hands off of her!”  
They let me go and I felt a much gentler pair of hands help me to my feet. I thanked Mason quietly before moving to kneel next to my brother.   
“What the hell is this?” Coach asked as I took my brother’s hand. “Get out! All of you! I can’t stand to look at your faces!”   
The other students filed out into the hall, leaving only Mason, Corey, Finstock, and myself.   
We all helped Liam to his feet, my brother leaning heavily against my shoulder.   
“It’s okay, I’ve got you.” I said, barely struggling to hold him up.   
“I can’t believe you did that.” Mason said.   
“Clark Kent, right?”   
I smiled. “Yeah. Clark Kent.”  
Mason and I hugged him before walking him into the hallway.   
I could hear shouting coming from the principal’s office and I couldn’t help but smile.   
We leaned Liam up against a set of lockers and let him catch his breath.   
“Can you get him home?” I asked Mason.  
“Why? What are you doing?” He questioned.  
I licked my lips. “I’m going to threaten the lives of two boys.”  
“Ren, don’t.” Liam pleaded.   
I looked at him sternly. “I told you what I was going to do. I told you that if anyone came after you, I would ruin them. And that’s what I’m doing.”  
“What if it makes things worse?” Mason asked.   
I pointed at the blood all over Liam’s face. “How much worse can this get? Mason, listen, you know me. I’m not letting them get away with this. They won’t get away with doing it to him, or to Corey, to you, anyone. I’m not letting this bullshit go on.”  
There was tense, silent moment.   
“Please.” I said, quietly. “Please let me deal with this right now.”  
Liam looked over at me, his eyes scanning my face. “You’ll be okay?”  
“Yeah, of course. I can handle myself.”  
He offered a small smile. “Call if you need help.”  
I nodded. “Will do. Go home and rest, okay?”  
Mason helped Liam down the hall and out of sight while I leaned against the lockers and waited for Gabe and Nolan to come back out.   
I could hear intermittent yelling continue for another fifteen minutes before the two boys stepped into the hallway.   
“Hey!” I called out and they turned to face me. I pushed myself off the lockers and stalked towards them.   
“What do you want?” Gabe asked.  
“Snapping your fucking neck seems like a pretty fun idea.”   
He rolled his eyes. “Seriously.”  
I almost laughed. “Did I sound like I was joking?”  
“Your brother got what he deserved.”   
I got in Gabe’s face as best I could despite the fact that he towered over me. “Oh, really? Well then, dumbass, why don’t you explain to me what the fuck he did to you?”  
“He’s a werewolf.” Nolan’s voice trembled when he spoke.   
I turned to face him. “Look who finally had the balls to say it out loud.”   
“You’re not even going to deny it?” Gabe inquired.  
I laughed. “Would you even believe me if I did? Everyone seems pretty deadset on believing what they’ve heard about last night. Why should I waste my breath trying to convince you of something you’ll never believe?”  
“They’re monsters.”   
I shook my head. “No, Gabe, they’re not. My brother has never killed anyone, Scott has never killed anyone. But last night, two people died. My friends. Teenagers. Because someone like you decided that they don’t deserve to be alive. You’re the monsters.”  
Nolan tried to speak but I cut him off.   
“Don’t. Don’t you dare fucking interrupt me, Holloway. My brother didn’t lay a hand on either of you but you teamed up and attacked him. You beat the shit out of him and he didn’t take one swing at either of you but you just kept going. So please explain to me how you are better than him?”  
Neither of them said anything in response.   
“I’m serious.” I said. “Explain it to me. Because I genuinely do not fucking understand.”  
“Do you understand what they can do? What Liam can do?” Gabe challenged.   
I nodded. “Yes, do you?”  
He rolled his eyes at me again. “He could kill someone.”  
“As could I.” I pointed out. “But do you know what else he could do? What he has done?”  
Gabe seemed to be growing annoyed with me but Nolan was looking at me curiously, waiting for me to continue.   
I shook my head. “Never mind. It doesn’t matter. It’s not like either of you are going to change your minds. And no matter what I tell you, you’re going to go running to Monroe to tell her everything because it’s pretty obvious that you’re working for her. So why don’t you pass along a message for me?”  
“What’s that?” Gabe asked.  
I smiled before punching him as hard as I could in the abdomen.   
He doubled over in pain, groaning and holding his side.   
When I spoke, my voice dripped with honey. “Tell her that if she’s looking for a monster, I’ll show her one.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter corresponds with the events at the sheriff's station so please be warned that this chapter does include some brief mentions of suicide.

“Shit.” I muttered, wiping a drop of blood from my finger from where the blade of my knife broke the skin.   
There was a knock on my bedroom door so I shoved the knife under my duvet before calling for them to come in.   
Liam walked inside. “Hey, what are you doing?”  
“Nothing. Taking a break from studying.” I said.  
“Are you bleeding?” He asked, sniffing at the air. His eyes narrowed in on the cut on my hand and he walked over, grabbing my wrist to get a closer look at it. “What happened?”  
I shook my head and tried to pull my hand away. “It’s nothing. I’m fine.”  
“You know you can’t lie to me.”   
I rolled my eyes but pulled the knife out from under my blanket.   
“Where did you get a butterfly knife?” He asked.   
I scratched the back of my neck but didn’t speak.   
“Lauren.”   
“I got it from Argent. He gave me a few throwing knives, too.” I explained, opening the drawer of my bedside table and pulling them out.   
Liam’s eyes went wide. “Do you even know how to use these?”  
I nodded towards the old five subject notebook I had propped up on a shelf across the room. “See the hole in the middle?”  
He nodded once.  
“Just to the left.” I said, pinching the blade of the knife between my thumb and forefinger before pulling back and throwing it towards my makeshift target.   
The tip of the knife imbedded itself into the notebook barely a centimeter to the left of the hole I’d pointed out to Liam.   
My brother turned back to look at me, his eyes wide. “Did Argent teach you that too?”  
I nodded. “Yeah. Well, I have good aim to begin with. He just taught me how to hold it and stuff. It’s really not that hard.”  
“Why did you even decide that you needed knives?” He asked.   
“I said I was going to protect you. I figured having a weapon would make that a little bit easier. I wanted a gun but Argent wouldn’t let me have one.”   
Liam ran his hand down his face. “I just – I don’t know what to do with you.”  
“Just trust me.”   
He shook his head but smiled. “I already do. But right now, you need to put your knives away so we can go to the Sheriff’s station.”  
My eyebrows drew together in confusion. “What’s at the station?”  
“They brought in two werewolves, arrested them for murder. And that girl Quinn has to talk to Stilinski since apparently she got shot by a deputy.” He explained.  
“Right. Well, I’m taking knives.” I said.  
“You can’t.”   
I stood up from the bed, placed the throwing knives into their sheath, and slipping it into the waistband of my jeans, along with my folded up butterfly knife. “Liam, if there’s a deputy trying to kill werewolves, then I’m taking my goddamn knives to the sheriff’s station.”  
He folded his arms across his chest. “Are you going to stab a deputy?”  
“If they try to kill you – or anyone else in the pack, for the matter – then yes, I am going to stab a deputy.” I said, pulling my leather jacket from the closet and putting it on. “I’m not fucking around anymore, Liam.”  
My brother sighed heavily but relented. “Whatever. Let’s just go.”  
I smiled and followed him out of the house. “Are Mason and Corey coming too?”  
He shook his head. “No. They’re probably at the library right now, trying to find out what came out of the Wild Hunt.”  
“Right, of course. I keep forgetting that something came out of the Wild Hunt because we have enough shit that we’re trying to deal with already. And to be quite honest, dying seems a lot easier than going to war against hunters and dealing with some other thing that wants us all to die.” I rambled as we got into the car.   
“Lauren…”  
“I know, I know. I don’t want to die but I really have no fucking clue what we’re doing or what’s going on anymore. Beacon Hills – hell, the entirety of Beacon County – is a goddamn disaster. Why do we even live here? Oh, that’s right! We don’t live here, we almost die here. All the time. We have had too many near death experiences. And I’m so stressed that, I swear to god, I found a grey hair last week.”   
“Lauren…”  
“WHAT?” I screeched.   
He scratched his head. “Are you gonna drive or do you want me to do that?”  
“I can drive.” I said much more calmly.   
“Then do it.”   
I narrowed my eyes at him before starting the car and pulling out onto the road. Since it was already so late, the roads were mostly empty, and we made it to the station just as Lydia’s car was pulling into the lot.   
We all went in together and headed straight for Stilinski’s office to find out what was going on with the people that had been arrested.   
After hearing what Stilinski had to say about the situation, I felt certain that the holding cell was the best place to keep the wolves. The rest of the pack, however, didn’t seem to agree.   
“I’m not letting them out. We’ve got two bodies covered in slash marks. They confessed to killing two people.”   
“Hunters.” Scott argued.   
“People, Scott. Self-defense or not, they’re still here, the other guys are dead. And there’s a process I have to follow.” Stilinski said.   
I nodded in agreement but didn’t say anything.   
Scott still didn’t relent. “Yeah, but you know what’s happening around here. It’s not safe for them.”   
“This may actually be the safest place for them in Beacon Hills. At least I can protect them here.”  
I interjected before anyone else could. “Guys, come on. Stilinski is right. All we know is that they killed two hunters. What we don’t know is if those hunters even killed anyone. These could be mostly innocent people who were murdered.”  
Lydia decided to speak up. “Would Stiles think that?”  
And Malia joined in as well. “Especially if one of the deputies is working for Gerard?”  
“I’m not buying that. I know these deputies like the back of my hand. I know their families, their kids, their brothers and sisters. I know who they are, and I trust them.” Stilinski explained.  
“You know who they were. There’s something out there. Everyone’s afraid. And it’s getting worse.” My brother had a point, even though I didn’t want to believe that they did have a deputy on their side.  
“Yeah, you can’t protect two werewolves from hunters if they’re already on the inside.” Scott said.   
Stilinski sighed and turned his attention to the girl sitting in the chair behind us. “It’s Quinn, right?”   
She nodded.   
“You’re sure it was a deputy who shot you? Absolutely, 100% sure?”  
Her head bobbed again. “I saw flashing lights, a police car. I… I saw a badge, a gun, and then they shot me. They shot me in the head and that’s all that I remember.”  
“There are a couple holes in her story.” The sheriff pointed out.  
“Maybe because there’s a hole in her head.”   
Malia laughed at Lydia’s words and even I had to bite my lip to stop myself from smirking. It was funny, in a really messed up way.  
Everyone shot Malia a look, shocked by her reaction, which lead to her apologizing.   
Scott shook his head before turning back to Stilinski. “Sheriff, we need to get Jiang and Tierney out of here before anyone realizes that they’re here.”  
“And take them where, exactly?” I asked. “They killed people. We can’t just let them back out into the world. What if they kill two more people? Or four? Or ten?”  
“But if you keep them here they’re…”  
Stilinski cut Lydia off before she could finish. “Look, if there’s a problem…”   
Suddenly light flooded the station and I turned to peer out the window. The light was so bright that I could barely see but I was sure the floodlights were courtesy of Monroe and the rest of the hunters.  
“It’s Monroe.” I whispered to Liam as we stepped out of the office.   
Stilinski was getting ready to go outside to find out exactly what kind of situation we were going to be dealing with. And I planned to follow him out.  
“They’ll be armed to the teeth.” Parrish warned.  
“Which is why I won’t be.”   
I watched as Stilinski removed his gun from its holster and placed it on the nearest desk.   
“I’m going with you.” Parrish said.   
“No, you’re gonna get some deputies, check the exits, and hope we’re not completely surrounded. And keep an eye out. Let’s make sure we’re all on the same side here.” The sheriff’s tone was hushed.   
“Sheriff…” I said as he turned to go outside.  
He looked back at me. “What is it?”  
“Let me go with you.”   
He shook his head. “Absolutely not. It’s too dangerous.”  
I walked closer to him, my voice dropping. “Please. I know how dangerous it is but I also know Monroe better than you do. Not to mention that I can watch the rest of them while you focus on her. It can’t hurt to have a second pair of eyes.”   
“Lauren, I don’t know about this.”  
I lifted the hem of my shirt a few inches to show him the knives hidden in my waistband. “If you think I’m letting you go out there without any backup, then you’re gonna have to lock me up in that cell with Jiang and Tierney. If anything happens, I’m ready to fight.”  
I think he could tell that I wasn’t about to give up because he finally nodded. “Just stay behind me. And don’t do anything unless you absolutely have to.”  
“Yes, sir.” I nodded.   
I followed him outside, both of our hands up in the air as we approached the spot where Monroe was standing between two cars.   
“I’m gonna assume you’ve all got permits for these weapons.” He spoke to the group of hunters who were all standing around, guns in hand.  
They all cocked their guns in response and my right hand twitched, already wanting to grab one of the knives from my waistband.   
“You know, this kind of situation is the whole reason we have a judicial system.” He spoke to Monroe this time.  
“Justice is about fairness. There’s nothing fair about a werewolf versus a human.” Her voice was always so condescending. It made me want to punch her.  
“If you think it’s fair to hand two kids over to a lynch mob, this is gonna be a pretty short conversation.”  
My eyes scanned the crowd before I decided to speak. “Do you really want to talk fairness, Tamora? In what world is an automatic weapon against an unarmed person fair? And justice? Justice would be throwing you in a goddamn cell for threatening law enforcement.”  
She ignored everything I said. “Do you know what a subduction zone is, Sheriff?”  
“I thought you were a guidance counselor.” He said.   
I scoffed. “Not even that.”   
Again, I got no response, but he glanced at me from the corner of his eye before continuing. “You teaching geology now?”  
“When tectonic plates are crushing together with enormous force, one of two things can happen. Either you release the pressure with a series of small quakes or… You get one devastating quake that levels an entire city. We need to release the pressure, Sheriff.”  
“’Release the pressure?’” I challenged. “You’re talking about murdering two kids! Well… Two more kids.”  
“Right now, I am the only thing holding this mob back from storming the station.” She glared at me. “And at some point, they’re gonna stop listening to me.”  
“Do you want a bloodbath?” Stilinski asked.  
“I’m trying to stop one. All you have to do is bring them out. I don’t care if they’re dead or alive.”  
I rolled my eyes and took a step towards her. Before I could take a second step, I noticed a laser sight pass through my line of sight. When I looked down, there was a red dot directly in the middle of my chest.   
The man aiming his gun at me was probably in his forties and he looked vaguely familiar.   
“Point that somewhere else or I’ll make sure you spend the rest of your life in prison.” Stilinski threatened.   
I smirked and looked around at the crowd again. I spotted Gabe a few cars away from where we stood. I laughed when I spoke to him. “Did you pass along my message, Gabe?”  
His nostrils flared and he looked away.   
“A message?” Monroe inquired.  
“I asked our friend to tell you that I’m the only monster you should be afraid of. Because if you try to touch a single member of my pack, especially my brother, I’ll kill you myself. No fangs, no claws. I’ll rip your fucking throat out with my bare hands.”   
Her eyes widened for a fraction of a second but she looked up Stilinski. “You have until midnight.”  
I started backing away, keeping an eye on the crowd, on where their guns were pointed. Even Stilinski didn’t want to break eye contact.   
In an act of defiance, I turned my back to them and strolled back towards the building with my head held high.   
When we got back inside, Scott, Malia, Lydia, Liam, Theo, Quinn, Jiang, and Tierney were all about to leave through one of the exits at the back of the building.   
“Nobody’s going anywhere,” Stilinski called.   
“I can get through them.” Lydia said.  
I shook my head. “No. It’s too risky.”  
“And we’re not gonna fire the first shot. Now, get back from the door. All of you. Parrish, get these two back in their cell.”  
I watched Parrish grab Jiang and Tierney to escort them back to the holding area.   
Scott stepped closer to us. “What happened?”  
“She gave us till midnight.” I said. “So, we don’t really have much time. We have to figure out how to get Jiang and Tierney out or get the hunters to leave. Obviously, neither task is going to be easy. And I actually don’t have a plan so…”  
Within minutes, there were desks shoved up against the doors, deputies double checking how many bullets were in their clips, and a general sense of panic had fallen over the station.  
Things went from bad to worse when suddenly the power cut out and the station grew dark. Without realizing it, I’d reached out to Theo who was standing next to me. My hand gripped the sleeve of his hoodie tightly and he looked down at me. He looked more confused than scared but there was a hint of fear in his eyes.   
One of the deputies was wandering closer to the windows, she seemed almost disoriented. I felt like she wasn’t even aware of what she was doing.   
“How easy is it to cut the power to a sheriff’s station?” Malia asked.  
“Too easy.”   
When I turned to look at the other deputy who’d spoken, I was surprised to see her shove Nolan into the room. He slid onto the floor not far from where I was standing.   
“Throw him out.” Liam suggested.  
The look of fear on Nolan’s face almost made me feel bad for him. “No, you can’t. Okay? Please don’t. She’ll know I screwed up.”  
“He’s with them.” I said quietly.   
Scott looked over, silently warning me to stop talking.  
Parrish turned to Stilinski for instructions on what to do with him.  
Liam spoke first. “He’s a liar and he’s sick in the head.”  
“And now he’s under arrest. Lock him up.” Stilinski ordered.   
Parrish pulled Nolan to his feet and walked him back to the same holding area that Jiang and Tierney were locked up in.   
My brother and Theo disappeared into the bathroom shortly after. When Liam returned a few minutes later and joined me while I watched the camera feed of the cells, I could tell he was angry.   
I was about to ask him what was wrong when I noticed that Nolan had managed to get out of his handcuffs and was approaching the cell.   
“Shit, Liam, go.” I rushed, pushing him towards the doorway.   
Just as we stepped through the doorway, we noticed the vial of wolfsbane that Nolan was holding up, ready to smash in the cell.   
My brother grabbed Nolan’s wrist and slammed him up against the bars of the cell. I grabbed the arm that Liam didn’t have ahold of and together, we dragged Nolan back out to where all of the deputies were.  
“Wolfsbane.” We told Scott.   
“He was trying to kill them.” Liam finished. “And Scott, there’s something else you need to see.”  
They walked away again while I kept a firm grip on Nolan’s arm. “Hey, Parrish? A hand?”  
Parrish grabbed Nolan’s other arm and we took him into another office, cuffing him to one of the desks in the room.   
“Watch him, will you?” I asked the deputy that followed us in.  
Minutes later, I was leaned up against a desk in the lobby, my head leaned up against Liam’s shoulder. My eyes fell shut; they were burning on account of how tired I was. There was nothing that I wanted more than to curl up in my bed and go to sleep.   
The sound of glass shattering caused Liam and I both to cringe and our eyes flickered around the room quickly.   
We spotted an arrow lodged into the wall. Malia got to it first, pulling it from the wall. The arrow was pierced through a dark scrap of material. When Malia pulled it off, Liam took it from her hands and unfolded it.   
My hand flew up to cover my mouth when I saw that it was a bloody piece of Brett’s lacrosse jersey.   
“This is Brett’s number.”   
“They’re trying to rattle us.” Lydia said.   
Theo wrapped his arm around my shoulders in an attempt to calm me down. “It’s working.”  
Liam’s eyes glowed but before I could do anything to help him, there was a scream from one of the offices. Everyone ran towards the door and I felt bile rise up in my throat when I saw the deputy who had been watching Nolan hanging from the ceiling.   
“I… I didn’t do anything. I… I didn’t even say anything. He just got up and started putting the wire around his neck.” Nolan stuttered.   
Stilinski and Parrish moved to get the deputy down but I was slumped against the wall, unable to tear my eyes away from the dead body.   
“Fifteen minutes. They’re coming to kill us in 15 minutes. They’re coming to kill us and no one’s gonna help us. We’re all dead. We’re already dead.”   
I was barely hearing what the female deputy was saying but the sound of a gun being unholstered drew my attention.   
Stilinski was calling out for her to put her gun away, but she wasn’t listening to him. She lifted the gun, pointing it at her own head.   
Without thinking, I lunged towards her. I grabbed her hand, pulling it so the barrel was pointed towards the ceiling instead of at her head. She tried to fight me for it, trying to aim it back at herself.   
“Morrow, listen to me. It’s going to be okay. You’re not going to die tonight. We’ll figure something out.” I felt her wedding ring digging into my palm as I tried to wrestle the gun away. “Morrow, you don’t have to do this. You’re not going to die. You’re going to go home to your husband tonight.”   
“We’re already dead.” She whimpered. With a particularly hard pull, she pointed the weapon towards herself and pulled the trigger.   
The bullet went directly through her chin and through the top of her head. My ears were ringing from the sound of the gunshot and blood had splattered everywhere.   
The wall behind her was covered and I was acutely aware of something hot dripping down my face. I looked down to see my shirt covered in crimson, a chunk of something laying on my chest. Brain matter, I assumed.   
Deputy Marrow’s hand slipped from my grip as I turned to look at Scott, unsure of what to do. I wanted to scream but I couldn’t figure out how.   
“Oh my god.”   
I turned towards the sound of my brother’s voice, tears instantly pouring down my face, mixing with the blood and causing more of it to run down my neck.   
Liam rushed towards me, his hands curling around my arms and guiding me out of the room. I didn’t know where he was taking me; I just followed him, babbling about blood and brain matter.   
“Ren, hey, can you hear me?” He asked, his voice filled with concern. “Hey, Lauren, are you hurt? You’re not hurt, are you?”  
I only managed to shake my head.   
“Not my blood.” I muttered, more to myself than to him.   
Liam lifted me up, setting me down next to the sink in one of the station’s bathrooms.   
“Lauren, I’m going to clean you up, okay? Is that alright?”   
I finally met my brother’s eyes and I was surprised to see that he was crying. I reached out to brush tears from his face but stopped when I saw blood on my hands. “Not my blood.”  
He nodded. “You’re right. It’s not your blood. You’re not hurt. You’re going to be just fine, yeah?”  
He scrambled to grab paper towels and wet them in the sink. He grabbed my right wrist and used the paper towels to wipe blood from my skin before doing the same thing to my other hand.   
Once my hands were clean, I let them fall to my lap.   
“Ren, close your eyes for me. I’m going to wash your face, okay?”   
I nodded. “Okay.”  
My eyelids fell shut and I felt him gently running wet paper towels across my face, wiping away all of the blood he could.   
“I can taste it.” I whispered, feeling tears slide from the corners of my eyes.   
Liam’s hands were shaking as he wiped at my skin and I heard him call out to Theo, panic in his voice.   
I heard footsteps coming into the room.   
“Is she okay?”  
Liam didn’t answer the question. “I need a bottle or a cup or something so she can rinse her mouth out. There’s blood in her mouth.”  
The footsteps receded but returned within seconds.   
Liam was still focused on cleaning my face but he stopped for a moment. Then I heard Theo’s voice.   
“Lauren, hey, I’m going to give you some water to rinse out your mouth.” He said quietly and I opened my mouth, feeling a ceramic coffee mug at my lips.   
Cool water poured into my mouth and I swished it around before opening my eyes and turning to spit into the sink next to me.   
Theo gave me more so that I could rinse a second time before setting the mug down.   
He reached out, grabbing ahold of one of my hands while Liam got back to work on my face.   
“I just wanna go home.” I whispered, watching the doorway as Scott entered the room.   
“I know. We’re going to get you home soon.” He promised me before speaking to Theo. “Hey, man, I need your help with something.”  
Theo nodded before dropping my hand and following the alpha out of the room.   
“Liam?” I whispered.   
“Yeah?”  
I choked back a sob. “Thank you.”  
He tried to smile but he couldn’t. “You’re welcome, Ren.”  
“No one used to call me that until they heard you saying it all the time.”   
“I remember. You used to hate it when we were little.”   
I nodded. “Yeah. It kind of grew on me, I guess.”  
“Do you remember when we were like 6 and you always called me Lia because you wanted a sister?” He asked.  
A smile did flicker across his face then and I returned it. “Yeah. But it’s different now. You’re cooler than a sister, I think.”  
Liam dropped a handful of wet, bloody paper towels into the trash before looking me over. “And you’re all clean now.”  
I slid from the countertop and gave my brother a tight hug. He kept one of his arms wrapped around me and guided me back to the lobby.  
Scott and Theo were zipping up two body bags that were laying in the middle of the floor.   
“What’s going on?” I asked.   
Theo explained to me that they were going to take out the bodies of the deputies and try to tell Monroe that they were Jiang and Tierney. I didn’t think it would work but I didn’t want to tell them that. It was the only plan anyone had.   
Liam left my side to go talk to Parrish and I felt myself awkwardly pulling at the hem of my tshirt and pretending that I couldn’t notice all of the people that were staring at me.   
Liam grabbed my hand and second later, pulled me back towards the cells.   
“What’s going on?” I asked.  
“Just trust me.” He responded.   
He grabbed ahold of Nolan and shoved him into the cell first.   
“What are you doing?” Nolan shouted.   
My brother guided me into the cell next, sliding the door shut, and answering Nolan’s question. “I’m saving your life, dumbass. Keep your head down.”  
“What the hell is going on?”   
I looked over at Nolan before sitting down on the bench in the cell. “I don’t know. But I trust my brother.”  
He sat beside me, leaving plenty of space between us. “Are you okay?”  
I rolled my eyes.   
“Right. Stupid question. I just… I’m sorry. Is there anything I can do?”   
“If you don’t shut up right now, I swear to god, I’ll beat the shit out of you.” I warned.   
“But I…”  
“No. Shut the fuck up. You’re asking if there’s anything you can do? Are you stupid? There are a million things that you could do. The first – and in my opinion, most important – you could stop listening to everything Monroe tells you. You call my brother a monster yet you were the one in here earlier ready to kill two people.” I scoffed. “People around here are terrified and Monroe and the rest of them – the rest of you – are only making it worse. Two deputies killed themselves because those motherfuckers outside are actively terrorizing people.”  
I stood up and began pacing through the cell. Nolan’s eyes were on me the whole time.   
“They’re terrorizing people, threatening them to the point where they’re committing suicide. And I know that you had to sit there and watch that deputy string himself up from the goddamn rafters, but you didn’t end up with brain matter splattered all over your face like I did. I’m standing here, and I still don’t understand how this happened. And Liam was in the bathroom cleaning my face and… And there was a part of me that wanted to be dead too. Because I don’t know how I’m supposed to get over this.”  
“Lauren…” He said, standing up and moving towards me.   
I shook my head. “Don’t. Don’t come near me. Because I know how I probably look right now. I’m yelling at you, full of my usual attitude. I seem normal, right? But this is far from fucking normal. I’m going to be going to therapy for the rest of my life so that I can try to cope with the fact that a woman shot herself in the face while I was trying to pry the gun from her hands. And I’m shocked that I’m even able to stand here and talk to you because I feel like I should be curled up in the corner waiting for someone to put me out of my misery.”  
Before I could say more, Parrish came into the room, using his keycard to unlock the cell door and slide it open. He told Nolan to leave and the boy ran out of the cell as fast as he could. But I hesitated, keeping close to the back of the cell.  
Parrish held his arm out to me. “Come on, it’s all over. We’re gonna get you home.”  
I nodded and grabbed his hand, letting him guide me to the front of the station.   
The entire pack was lined up by the open doors. I could see Jiang and Tierney being escorted into a transport van. There were deputies outside, ready to lead us out safely.   
I let go of Parrish’s hand and ran over to Liam and Theo. As we walked outside, I did my best to position myself between the two of them and the hunters just in case anyone wanted to try to take a shot at them.   
Liam and I walked to my car and I handed him the keys, not trusting myself to drive. I stared out the window most of the way home.   
I was feeling increasingly weak the closer we got to home. “Li, I don’t feel so good.”  
“Are you going to be sick?” He asked.  
I shook my head. “I don’t think so. I just feel like I’m going to pass out.”  
“You’re exhausted and upset. Just take some deep breaths, okay? We’re almost home.”   
I nodded and followed his instructions, leaning my head against the back of the seat and trying to breathe deeply. But I could feel my heart hammering in my chest. I was sure that if it got any faster, I would have a heart attack.   
“Lauren, you need to calm down. Your heart is beating way too fast.” Liam said, his eyes flickering between me and the road several times.  
My hands were trembling violently and, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t seem to catch my breath. I wasn’t sure if I’d ever really stopped crying, but I could feel tears dripping from my face and soaking into my tshirt.   
“I tried to stop her. When I saw her aim the gun at herself, I just… I didn’t even think about it. I know I could’ve gotten hurt, but I didn’t want her to do that. She was just so scared; she thought we were all going to die anyway. And I wanted to save her, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t save her.”  
We pulled up to the house then. I noticed that dad’s car was missing from the driveway, he’d probably gotten a call from the hospital. It was disappointing because I could’ve really used a hug from him.  
“You can’t save everyone, Lauren.”  
I nodded. “I know that. But I should’ve been able to save her. Morrow should not have died today.”   
“No one should’ve.” He sighed.   
I got out of the car, leaning against the side for a moment before following my brother into the house. I felt like I was dead on my feet, so Liam helped me upstairs to my bedroom.   
“I think I’m going to go take a shower and have a good cry. So, I’ll see you in the morning.” I said, pulling off my leather jacket and draping it over the back of my desk chair.   
“Lauren, wait.”   
I turned to face Liam. “What?”  
“I have to leave.”   
My eyebrows pulled together. “What? Where are you going?”  
He ran a hand through his hair. “Scott’s dad told us we need to leave town. It’s better this way.”  
“When? Do I need to start packing now?” I asked.  
He shook his head. “No, Lauren, not you. You have to stay. You’ll be safer here. If you’re here, the hunters should leave you alone. You’re human, they don’t want to hurt you. But if you come with us… If you come with us, you could get hurt, you could die.”  
“You’re an idiot. Do you think I’m just going to stick around here – going to school, prepping for soccer tryouts, going to dances – while you’re on the run from a bunch of assholes with guns? No, no, that’s not happening.”   
Liam groaned. “God damn it, Lauren. Would you listen to me for once in your life?”  
“You’re really going to leave me here? After what just happened, you’re going to leave me here to deal with it alone?” I challenged.   
“Mason is staying, too. You guys will take care of each other, you always did.” He paused to take a deep breath. “Listen, why don’t you go get cleaned up while I pack?”  
He immediately turned and walked out, heading down the hall to his room.   
I ran after him, swearing under my breath the whole way.   
“If you think I’m not going to follow you then you really are an idiot.” I hissed.   
He was dumping out the contents of his lacrosse bag out and filling it back up with clothes. “Ren, I really don’t have time to argue with you about this. You can’t come. End of story.”  
I shook my head. “I can’t stay here with just Mason. I love him dearly, you know that, but I just… I need you and I need Scott and Malia and Lydia. I don’t even have Stiles because he’s off on the opposite side of the country. What are we supposed to do if something happens? What if they come after us anyway?”  
“They won’t. Besides, Stilinski and Parrish promised to look after you while we’re away.”   
“And how long is that going to be, exactly? A week? A few months? What if it’s never safe for you to come back?” I asked, my hands landing on my hips.   
Liam threw his phone charger into his bag before zipping it shut. “I don’t care how long I have to stay away as long as it keeps you safe.”  
I was glaring at him, tears threatening my eyes again. “I can’t believe you’re running away.”  
He lifted his bag, slinging the strap over his shoulder before stepping towards me. He pulled me into a tight hug, his chin resting on top of my head. “I’m sorry, Lauren. I’m so sorry. But I have to do this.”  
I was furious, but I hugged him back as tight as I possibly could. “Even if you can’t tell me where you’re going, please call when you can so that I know you’re safe. Jesus, Liam, I don’t know what I’m gonna do without you.”  
“You’ll be just fine. You’ve never really needed anyone, have you?”  
I wiped tears from my face and looked up at him. “Please, just be careful. If this really is the only option, then run. Run as fast as you can, get as far away from here as possible.”   
He nodded. “You need to be careful, too. Stop trying to fight everyone. We’ll come back as soon as it’s safe.”   
“I love you. I hate you but I love you so much.”  
His phone chimed from his pocket and he didn’t have to check it to know. “That’s probably Scott. He’s probably here to pick me up. I’ll talk to you soon, okay?”  
I nodded. “I’ll miss you.”  
Liam pressed a kiss to my forehead. “I’ll miss you, too. I love you.”  
And with that, he walked out.   
I was left standing in the middle of his bedroom, trying to not start sobbing uncontrollably.   
After what had to be ten minutes, I finally mustered up the strength to move and I went to take my shower before putting my pajamas on and crawling into Liam’s empty bed.   
My alarm didn’t wake me up that morning; instead, I was greeted by my mother’s face hovering over me.   
“Sweetheart, where’s your brother?” She asked when I sat up in his bed.   
I formulated a lie within a few seconds. “He has a math test today. Mason was going to meet him at the library before school and help him do some last minute studying.”  
“Why are you sleeping in here?”   
“I wasn’t feeling well last night. Liam said I could sleep in here so that he could help me in case I got sick.”   
My mother pressed the back of her hand to my forehead. “You do feel a bit warm. Do you want to stay home today? You look like you could use the rest.”  
I nodded. “Yeah, I think that would good.”  
She smoothed down a few pieces of my hair and smiled at me. “Alright, I’ll call you in. Your dad and I both have to work today but if you need anything, don’t hesitate to call one of us.”  
I smiled. “Thanks, mom. Have a good day at work.”  
She left the room a moment later and I curled up in a ball, burying my face in the pillow. I managed to fall asleep again rather quickly, breathing in my brother’s scent.   
I was woken up just a few hours later. I opened my eyes, expecting to see my mother again, but instead, Mason was gently shaking my shoulders.   
“Mason? What are you doing here?” I asked.   
“I’m going to the animal clinic. Corey is here. I thought you might want to come, see what he has to say about Liam.” He explained.   
I quickly got out of bed. “Yeah, yeah, okay. Just give me a minute to go get dressed.”  
“I already brought you some clothes.” He said, handing me a pair of sweats and a hoodie. “I went in your room to find you first and when you weren’t there, I figured you would be here. So I got clothes for you to cut down on time.”  
I took them from him and kicked off the pair of shorts I was wearing. “That’s smart.”  
“You’re not even going to wait for me to leave to change?”   
“I’m wearing underwear. It’s no different from you seeing me in a bikini. Besides, I’m not quite your type, am I?” I almost laughed while pulling the pair of sweats onto my legs.   
He smirked. “Fair enough.”  
I tied the drawstring and grabbed my hoodie, pulling it on while I rushed down the stairs, Mason just a few steps behind me.   
I slipped on a pair of shoes that I’d left by the front door and we were off.   
My leg was shaking nervously during the whole drive to the clinic. When we pulled up, Mason ran inside just ahead of me.   
Corey was leaning in the doorway to the exam room.   
“You told me you were leaving!” Mason breathed.  
“I had to.” His boyfriend responded.   
The look of relief on Mason’s face was indescribable. “You lied.”  
“We all did.”  
My brother’s voice came from inside the exam room and we walked around the corner, seeing the whole pack in the room.   
I ran over to Liam, flinging my arms around his neck. “So, this was the plan all along? To let us think you were leaving us?”  
“Sorry.” Scott said. “My dad had to believe we left Beacon Hills. Everyone has to believe it.”  
“Then what happens next? We fight back now, right?” Mason asked.  
Scott smirked. “What did you think we were gonna do? Run?”


	6. Chapter 6

“Wait, slow down… Your plan is to lure the hunters to that shitty old zoo and then… What? Blow up Gerard’s armory?” I asked.  
Scott nodded. “That’s the general idea.”  
“And Mason and I are… What? Bait?”   
He nodded again. “Yeah, kind of. Liam and Theo are going to be at the zoo, you and Mason need to make sure that Nolan sees you rounding up supplies to take there. He should follow you and tell Monroe or whoever that we’re still in town. The hunters leave, the armory is empty, we destroy all of their weapons.”   
“How are we going to make sure Nolan sees us? He’ll be in school?” Mason said.  
I tapped my fingers against the metal tabletop. “Well, we could always grab some stuff from the lost and found.”  
“I don’t think an ugly backpack and someone’s nasty gym shoes are going to really work.” Liam said.  
“Have you seen how much stuff the office has in the lost and found? People always bring sleeping bags and blankets to keep warm during lacrosse games and I swear, nearly half of them get left behind.”   
“Don’t you think the secretary might get a little bit suspicious if we take all of the blankets?” Mason asked.   
I laughed and shook my head. “Please, Gayle is nearly blind. You could probably steal her desk and she wouldn’t notice.”   
Scott chuckled. “How do you know all of this?”  
“Being an office assistant has its perks.” I shrugged. “Anyway, we need more than just blankets and shit. We need food too.”  
“I don’t think the lost and found has food.” Liam pointed out.  
I nodded. “Correct. Which is why I’m sneaking into the kitchen. Mason, all you have to do is go into the office, tell Gayle that you found a bag or something, you don’t know who it belongs to and that you want to place it into the lost and found. Then just go in and rob them blind. While you’re doing that, I’ll go into the kitchen and grab some of the bags of apples and a package of the bottled water.”  
“I still don’t know how Nolan will see us.” Mason said.  
“We’ll walk past whatever class he’s in on our way out. Do something to draw just enough attention.” I looked down at my watch. “If we go now, he’ll probably be in math by the time we’re ready to head out.”  
“How do you know his schedule?”   
I sighed. “He was my friend before this. Besides, I don’t have much to offer as far as it goes for physicality, so I compensate by knowing things. Including what classes our enemy agents will be in at all times during the day. While Nolan’s in math, Gabe should be in French.”  
“Impressive.” Theo noted from his spot in the corner.   
“I almost forgot you were still here. I’m not used to you being quiet for more than 48 seconds.” I teased.  
He rolled his eyes but smiled.  
“Okay, one last run through. Scott, Lydia, and Malia are going to the armory with Argent. Theo and Liam are going to be at the zoo. Mason and I are the bait. And Corey, what are you doing?” I asked.  
“Espionage activity.” He responded. “I’ll be at school to keep an eye on things there but I’ll be invisible.”  
I nodded. “Right, okay, got it.”  
“So if we all know what we’re doing, why are we still sitting around here?” Theo Asked.  
“He has a good point. We need to move now. Mason and I will head to school, pretending everything’s normal. As soon as everyone else is in position, let us know and we’ll move onto the next stage.” I rushed. “I have to go home, change, and get my knives.”   
“Why do you have to change?” Corey asked.  
I looked down at the sweatpants and sneakers I had on. “This outfit doesn’t give me enough places to hide my knives.”  
Liam cut me off. “Wait, why do you need knives? You’re just going to school.”  
“For when we’re at the zoo and the hunters show up.” I said, as though it should’ve been obvious.   
He shook his head. “No, you’re not staying. Neither of you are staying. You’re dropping off the fake supplies and getting out of there.”  
I rolled my eyes. “Bullshit. Mason can go if he wants but I’m staying.”  
“Liam’s right. It’s too dangerous for you to be there.” Theo said.  
I glared at him. “Don’t you start with me. Either the two of you can accept the fact that I’m going to be there and have my back, just as I will have yours, or you can wonder if I’m safe wandering about the zoo on my own when the hunters show up. Take your pick.”  
With that, I turned and walked out of the room in a huff. However, I returned a moment later. “I can’t go anywhere. Mason drove me.”  
Liam laughed as Mason pulled out his – well, technically Lydia’s – car keys and followed me out of the clinic.   
“Do you need me to wait for you?” He asked when we pulled up in front of my house.  
I shook my head as I pushed the car door open. “No, I’ll drive myself. Theo will have his truck but depending on how things go at the zoo, it wouldn’t hurt to have a second car. I’ll meet you at school soon, okay?”  
He nodded, and I shut the door, rushing up to the porch and into the house.   
When I walked into my room, all I wanted to do was collapse onto my bed and sleep for a day. Coming up with the plan and getting everything sorted out had taken up most of the night. I’d only slept for twenty minutes when I accidentally fell asleep on the exam table in the clinic and I was exhausted.   
But there was too much that needed to be done. I could sleep later, maybe. Hopefully.   
I walked to my closet to find a different outfit. I figured that in order to keep my knives hidden – and in the event that I needed to fight – jeans, a tank top, boots, and my bomber jacket would be sensible enough. And, for the time that I needed to be at school, it wouldn’t stand out much.   
Once I had changed, I got to work on getting my knives put away. Three throwing knives were tucked into the left side of my waistband, my butterfly knife and regular pocketknife were tucked into the right side, and I had two military-grade fixed blade knives – gifts from Argent – slipped into my boots.   
I pulled my hair up into a ponytail before grabbing my backpack and keys and heading out the door.   
Mason was waiting for me in the parking lot when I pulled up and we walked inside together. We parted ways once we made it to the office, Mason headed inside to talk to Gayle while I walked towards the cafeteria.   
I was nearly there when two people suddenly turned the corner in front of me and blocked my path. Gabe and Aaron.  
“What do you want? I’m kind of busy.” I sighed.   
“Aren’t you forgetting it’s test day?” Gabe said.  
I squinted up at him. “What the fuck are you talking about?”  
Aaron nodded his head in the direction of a classroom across the hall and I walked over to look in through the small window on the door. Every single student in the room had one hand wrapped in a bloody bandage.  
“Like what Nolan did to Corey.” I said, turning back to the face them. That was when I noticed the bloody scalpel in Gabe’s hand. “Gabe, you know damn well that I’m human.”   
He cocked his head to the side slightly, his dark eyes focusing on my blue ones. “I’m not so sure about that. We’ll need to test you anyway.”  
Aaron reached out to grab my wrist but before he could even touch me, I slammed my palms into his chest. He stumbled back a few feet and I noticed that it knocked the breath out of him. “Don’t fucking touch me. If you think I’m letting you near me with that blade then you’re both fucking delusional. I mean, are you seriously cutting everyone with the same dirty blade? Are you that fucking stupid? Someone’s going to end up with a fucking infection because, not only are you assholes, but you’re unsanitary assholes.”  
“Everyone has to get tested.” Aaron said.   
“Fine.” I smirked and pulled my pocket knife out of my waistband and flicking it open. I held my left hand out, palm down. Both boys watched as I dragged the sharp blade across the back of my hand, hissing slightly at the pain. I continued holding my hand out to show them that it wasn’t healing before grabbing a package of tissues from my bag and pulling a few out. I wiped off my knife before folding it and sticking it back into my waistband.  
I wiped some of the blood from my skin to show them that the wound was still bleeding. “See? Human. So, are we done here?”  
Gabe nodded.   
“Good. Then fuck off.” I said, shoving past him.   
I stepped around the corner and leaned against the wall, examining the cut on the back of my hand. It was still bleeding but not as much. Since I didn’t have any bandages, I fished an extra hair tie out of my bag and wrapped it around my hand to hold the tissues in place so that I wouldn’t be bleeding all over everything.   
When Gabe and Aaron disappeared, I set off again towards the cafeteria. Since it was still early in the day, all of the cooks were working on preparing lunches for a few hundred students; they would all be too preoccupied to notice me sneaking around.   
The door to the kitchen was usually closed and locked but I knew that while they were preparing lunch, the cooks kept it propped open to let some of the heat out.   
Making it to the door was the easy part but making it into the pantry would be harder. Once I reached the doorway, the kitchen was to the right and the pantry was to the left. But I knew that if any of the cooks looked towards the doorway, they would be able to see me in the pantry. I knew that I was going to have to be quick.   
When all of the cooks were looking away from my general area and seemed to focused on their own tasks, I quickly tiptoed into the massive pantry. There were a few cases of bottled water stacked in the corner and a bag full of apples lying on one shelf. I stacked the bag of apples onto one of the cases of water and lifted the goods into my arms.   
The bundle was heavier than I had anticipated and the cut on my hand was throbbing. I ran as fast as I could out of the pantry and towards the hallway where I had run into Gabe and Aaron. This time, there was a much friendlier face in their place. Mason was standing there holding a mountain of sleeping bags and blankets.  
“Okay, listen, it’s…” I paused and spun around to find a clock on the wall. “10:05 so Nolan will be in room 127 for math. But we need to avoid running into Gabe and Aaron who are running around somewhere assaulting students with a dirty scalpel.”  
He made a horrified face.  
“Yeah, it’s disgusting. I’ll explain more later. We just need to get past 127, make sure Nolan sees us, and get out of here within ten minutes before class gets out. If not, who knows how many people we might have to deal with.”   
We made our way towards the hall where Nolan’s class was and slowly walked past the room. He didn’t notice us the first time so we backed up to try again.   
“Drop something.” I whispered.   
“What?”  
“Drop some of the stuff.”   
Mason nodded. “Right, got it.”  
Right as we were about to pass the door again, Mason let a few of the sleeping bags drop from his arms with a hushed but audible “shit!”  
Nolan looked out through the open door to see Mason scrambling to pick up the sleeping bags and me pretending to rush him with an armful of stolen goods.   
When we got out to the parking lot, we stuffed everything into the trunk of Lydia’s car. We pretended not to notice Nolan getting into his own car which was parked just a few spots over.   
“You leave first. I’ll follow you.” I told Mason as we got into our cars.   
Mason pulled out of his spot and I followed a moment later. Nolan barely hesitated before driving after us.   
“Wow, he’s bad at this.” I muttered to myself when I saw how closely he was following us.   
Soon after, Mason and I pulled up to the abandoned Hill Valley Zoo. Liam and Theo got out of the truck as we approached.   
I parked my car next to Theo’s truck before helping Theo unload everything from the trunk of Lydia’s car.   
Once everything was unpacked, Mason called out to me. “Hey, be careful!”  
I smiled and waved. “Always! Bye, Mason!”  
“What happened to your hand?” Theo asked when he saw my makeshift bandage.   
“It’s just a cut.” I shrugged. “Gabe and Aaron are testing everyone at school.”  
“Gabe did this to you?!” Liam’s eyes flickered yellow.   
I shook my head. “No, calm down. I did it to myself.”  
“Why the hell would you do that?” Theo asked.   
I almost laughed. “To prove to them that I’m human while also not giving Gabe the satisfaction of hurting me. I also told him to fuck off so… Anyway, I’m fine. We just need to keep moving. Where are we supposed to take all of this stuff?”  
“There’s this secluded area over by where they used to keep the lions. We can put everything in there, make it look like a hideout.” Liam explained.  
“Alright, great. You lead the way because I suck at navigating in this place.” I said, moving to pick up as many of the supplies as I could carry.   
Theo and I followed Liam through the zoo for a few minutes before arriving at the place he had described. We laid out the sleeping bags before setting the water and food off to the corner.   
Once that was set up, we walked back towards the zoo’s entrance where Nolan had parked his car. We were positioned up on a ledge where we could hear and see everything.   
Within minutes, a truck pulled up and two men got out. The driver spoke to Nolan. “Where are they?”  
“Inside the zoo. They’re all here.” He said and I could tell that he was nervous. He was always nervous. “It’s not just the two of you, is it?”  
“What do you mean, ‘just?’” The driver asked cockily.   
“It’s not just a pack, okay?” Nolan explained. “There’s an Alpha and a Banshee. They’re all here.”  
“I don’t see all of them.” The second man said.   
“I don’t see anyone.” The driver followed up as they both looked around.   
Nolan was getting more and more worked up. “I… I saw Theo and Liam and Lauren bringing a car full of food and supplies right here. There were at least six sleeping bags, okay? They’re here, they’re all here!”  
“It’s just Nolan and two other guys.” Liam said quietly. “This isn’t gonna work.”  
“Where’s the backup?” Theo asked. “I mean, shouldn’t there be like 20 of them?”  
I crouched down next to them. “Still at the armory, I bet. They only saw us. And as far as I know, Nolan’s not exactly a high-ranking member of their little army. I’m not 100 percent sure anyone’s even going to listen to him.”  
“Okay.” Theo muttered.   
I looked towards him and could see that he was deep in thought.   
A small smirk appeared on his face. “Then they have to believe us.”  
“What are you talking about?” I whispered.   
“Isn’t that right?” He shouted.   
I rushed to cover his mouth.   
“Why are you yelling?” Liam asked.   
“You got a problem? Oh, that’s right, you always have a problem.!” Theo continued yelling as he pushed my hand away from his mouth.   
“What the hell are you doing?”  
“Shut up!”  
Liam looked offended and I admit that I kind of felt the same way. But that’s when I realized what he was trying to do.   
“Theo, leave him alone!” I shouted back. “You’re the one who’s always starting trouble.”  
Theo punched Liam in the face and my brother groaned loudly.   
“Dude, what the fuck?” I yelled, that reaction being entirely genuine.   
“Yeah, you see that, Scott? Little Beta can’t even take a punch! And what do you think, Malia? What, you think he can take me?”  
“Okay, I get it. But did you actually have to punch me?” Liam asked.  
I moved closer to the ledge and I could hear the guys talking. I whispered “wait, it’s working. Keep going.”  
Theo punched Liam again, knocking him to the ground.  
“That’s not what I meant.” I snapped, helping him to his feet.   
They continued fighting and I wanted to break it up but I knew better than to get in between them.   
“See what I mean, Lauren? He’s only good in a fight when he’s angry. So, let’s see just how angry he gets.”  
“Let’s not.” I suggested but neither of them were listening to me anymore.   
Eventually, they stopped.  
“Are you done?” I asked. “Or are you just gonna keep going? Forget the mission, just kill each other?”  
One of the hunters announced that they were calling for backup, so Theo agreed to stop the fight.   
“You ripped my tshirt.” Liam said.   
“I bought him that tshirt.” I frowned.   
“Yeah, you broke my nose. Twice. It healed, you broke it again. Two times!” Theo panted.  
After only a second of hesitation, Liam reached out and punched Theo again. “Three times.”  
I rolled my eyes before walking away to find a better vantage point.   
We ended up splitting up to check the other exits the zoo had but we found no new hunters.   
When we met up again, I wasn’t so sure that the plan was going to work at all.   
“It’s just the three of them and it’s been half an hour.” Liam said.   
Theo shrugged. “Don’t blame me. You’re the one who picked the abandoned zoo. What the hell are we doing in this place anyway?”  
“Because it’s like Mykonos.”   
My eyebrows furrowed. “The Greek island?”  
He nodded. “In the city they build these long, narrow, winding streets that all meet up with each other. Invaders would get lost in them like they were in a maze trying to figure our which was to go.”  
Theo half smiled and looked over at me.  
“The only subject he ever liked in school was history. He’s pretty damn good at it too.” I explained.   
“I’m impressed.” Theo admitted. “It’s a good idea.”  
“Yeah, only if invaders actually show up.”  
Right after Liam said that, I could hear cars in the distance and we looked out to see black SUVs pull up.   
“Looks like they’re here.” I said, watching people with weapons load out of the vehicles.   
“Okay, let’s go. We’re supposed to be decoys, not target practice.”  
I moved to follow Theo out of there but Liam hesitated.   
“You still working on that anger?” Theo asked.   
“I’m fine.” He responded.   
“Okay, then. Let’s go.” I encouraged.  
Theo grabbed Liam’s shoulder and tugged. “Well, you can angry at Nolan and stay alive. Come on.”  
Liam brushed his hand off and ignored him.   
“Fine, get caught.” Theo walked away.  
I sighed. “Liam, come on. We really do need to go.”  
“Just give me a minute.” Liam snapped.  
I narrowed my eyes at him. “No. It’s time for us to get out of here. We’ve done everything we’re supposed to do. They’re not actually supposed to catch us. It’s too…”  
When I suddenly trailed off, my brother turned to face me. “What? What’s wrong?”  
“This isn’t just dangerous for us.” I said. “It is for Nolan, too. Come on, we have to get Theo.”  
I ran off and Liam followed quickly.   
“How is it dangerous for Nolan?” He asked as we ran.   
“It’s like I said earlier, he’s not exactly a high-ranking member. And Lydia has told me that Gerard isn’t afraid to kill his own men. I can only assume Monroe feels the same way. Everyone’s out here because of Nolan. If they don’t find us, they could go after him. They could kill him.” I paused to take a breath. “I know you don’t like him and I don’t blame you for that, I don’t like him very much right now either. But Liam, he’s just a kid. He’s younger than us by a month. Aren’t we supposed to save him too?”  
Liam grumbled something in response but I couldn’t understand what he said.  
We didn’t stop running until we finally found Theo.   
I groaned, clutching at my side and taking a few deep breaths. There was a light sheen of sweat covering my forehead.   
“What’s going on?” Theo asked.  
“We can’t leave. We’ve gotta make sure someone sees us.” Liam said.  
Theo’s eyes went wide. “That wasn’t part of the plan.”  
I nodded. “Trust me. Everything will be fine. We’ll all make it out of here unscathed. But if we leave without someone seeing us – at least one of us – Nolan might be in danger. I don’t know what Gerard and Monroe might do to him.”  
“What are we supposed to do?”  
I leaned up against rock wall as I thought about it. “I can leave the same way we came in while the two of you sneak out the back. If they see me, they’ll know that Nolan wasn’t lying, right?”  
“Fuck no.” Liam said. “That’s not happening. You’re not running off by yourself. What if they hurt you?”  
“I’m human. They won’t touch me.” I said, bending down and pulling the knives out of my boots to show them. “I think I’ll be okay.”  
Their eyes went wide and I just stuck the blades back into my boots.   
Theo smirked. “How many of those did you bring?”  
“Of those specific knives, two. But I have seven knives in total. Those, my pocket knife, butterfly knife, and three throwing knives. I don’t like walking into situations like this unarmed. And like I told Liam, Argent wouldn’t let me have a gun.”  
Liam shushed me a moment later. “Wait, I can hear something.”  
He peered around the corner of the stone wall I was leaned up against and when I fell silent, I could hear footsteps approaching.  
I leaned around Liam, looking in the same direction he was.   
Nolan was walking nervously towards where we were, armed with a crossbow.   
“If you keep looking, he’s going to see you. Get back.” Theo warned.  
We both continued watching to see where Nolan was going to be headed.   
I didn’t know if he was going to turn in our direction or follow a different path.   
Theo tugged Liam’s arm. “I’m not dying out here because you want payback against some kid who kicked you ass, okay?”  
“Shut up, Theo.” I muttered.   
Liam and I turned to continue watching Nolan when Theo grabbed us and hauled us away. I could tell that our footsteps were too loud and Nolan was sure to have heard us.  
Theo pulled us up to a ledge. It was similar to the one we were on before but I knew we were on the opposite side of the zoo.   
“Let go.” Liam said, pulling his arm away.   
“Calm down!” Theo nearly yelled.  
“I said let go.” Liam’s eyes glowed yellow and I quickly pulled my arm from Theo’s grasp and placed my hand on my brother’s shoulder.  
I spoke softly. “Deep breath, Li. It’s okay.”  
“What’s going on with you? This cant just be Nolan. Something around here is triggering you.” Theo said to him.   
“I’m fine.”  
I rolled my eyes at Liam’s words but kept my hand on his shoulder.   
“What is it? The hunters? You don’t like cages, scared of heights?” Theo asked.  
“It’s the same place.” I whispered, remembering something Liam had told me a couple of years before. “The same zoo.”  
“I said I’m fine.” Liam said.  
“They’re up here!”   
I immediately recognized the yell from behind me. Nolan had found us.  
When I spun around, he still had the crossbow in his hand. But before I could react, Liam growled loudly and lunged towards him. Both boys went over the small ledge and I ran over to look, seeing them both on the ground below.  
“Shit. We have to get down there.” I said, running off in the direction we’d come before finding the right path to follow to get to them.   
Theo was right behind me the whole time.   
“What’s going on with him?” He asked.  
I shook my head, tears threatening my eyes. “It’s a long story. But something happened here, something bad. It still upsets him. I didn’t… I didn’t even realize this was the same zoo until a minute ago.”  
Neither of the boys were in sight yet but I could hear Liam’s low growls and Nolan talking.  
“She wants me to kill you.” There was a short pause. “She’ll kill me if I don’t.”  
He sounded terrified.  
I rounded a small corner and saw both of them.  
The sound of my footsteps drew Nolan’s attention. He turned, the crossbow no longer aimed at my brother, but at me.  
I froze, tears threatening my eyes. I wondered if he would actually shoot me.  
When Theo saw it, he quickly pushed me behind him. I clutched the back of his shirt with one of my hands while I peeked around his shoulder.   
Suddenly Liam knocked the crossbow from Nolan’s hands and pushed him against the stone wall.   
Nolan was crying, his face contorted with fear.   
Liam’s hand curled in his fist, his claws probably digging into his palms.   
I watched in horror, wondering if he was going to kill Nolan.  
“Liam, don’t hurt him!” I shouted, trying to rush towards him.   
Theo reached out with one arm and pulled me back, keeping his arm looped around my waist.   
I was crying. “Liam, listen to me! Don’t hurt him! You’re better than this. You aren’t a monster.”  
Liam’s fist slammed into the rock next to Nolan’s head, the sound of the bones in his hand breaking made me cringe and I slumped against Theo, feeling overwhelmed.  
My brother kept slamming his fist into the rock, blood pouring from his knuckles.  
Suddenly he stopped, his fist opened up to reveal his claws.   
When Nolan saw them, his eyes fluttered shut. He thought he was going to die. And I couldn’t move. I couldn’t do anything.   
Theo let go of me and moved towards them.   
Liam roared and I covered my mouth with my hand, ready to the muffle the scream that was sure to escape when he killed Nolan.   
But before he could do that, Theo ran up behind him and knocked my brother out with a single blow.  
Theo looked down at a still horrified Nolan. “Run.”  
Nolan took off as fast as possible and my hand fell from my mouth as I dropped to ground on my hands and knees, tears running down my face faster than I thought possible.   
Theo rushed towards me, kneeling on the ground next to me while one of his hands rubbed my back gently. “Hey, it’s okay. Just take a deep breath. We’re going to get out of here, okay?”  
I sat on my feet, my hands resting on my knees as I tried to catch my breath. My brother was still knocked out on the ground but I could see his chest moving when he breathed so I didn’t panic.   
I brushed dirt from my hands before wiping tears from my face and letting Theo pull me to my feet. “Listen, we still have to stick to the plan. You take Liam out the back and I’ll head out the front. Maybe if people see me, they’ll be too distracted to keep looking for you.”   
“Lauren, are you sure? That kid just pointed a crossbow at you.” He asked.  
“He didn’t mean to. He wasn’t going to shoot me. I think I just scared him and he overreacted. Theo, I’m not scared of Nolan. I’m not scared of any of these guys.” I said.  
“Really? Because I am. Liam is. You should be scared of them.”   
I shook my head. “If they’re only interested in killing supernaturals, then I’m fine. I’m human. For once, that might actually work to my advantage. Do you know how long it’s been since we’ve been up against something that I might actually have a shot against?”  
Before Theo could say anything else, I spoke again.   
“Listen, I’ll be fine, okay? I appreciate the concern but please just worry about getting Liam out of here right now. I’ll take care of myself. Please just keep him safe. I’ll meet up with you later.”  
I took off before he could argue with me, making my way towards the main entrance at a light jog.  
Surprisingly, I didn’t run into many hunters. I avoided them and almost made it out of there without incident.   
I was following one of the main paths, walking past an exhibit that used to house monkeys when I was a kid. It had been one of my favorite parts of the zoo. I knew that I was close to the entrance when one of the hunters stopped me.   
He shouted at me to stop, a rifle pointed at my chest.   
My feet stopped and I held my hands up. “I’m an unarmed human. I would appreciate it tremendously if you would lower the automatic weapon.”  
I noticed him look at the bloody bandage on my hand before lowering the weapon, using the strap to hang it from his shoulder.   
“What are you doing here?” He asked.  
“Leaving.” I said, as though it should be obvious.  
When he walked closer to me, I realized that he wasn’t much older than I was, maybe 23 tops.   
He smirked and clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. “What are you doing trying to help them?”  
“They’re my friends.” I shrugged. “Whatever it is that you think you know about them, you’re wrong. They aren’t bad people.”  
“They aren’t even people.”  
I rolled my eyes. “I don’t even know why I try reasoning with you.”   
I tried to move past him but he blocked my path.   
“Excuse me.” I said.  
He still didn’t move.  
I groaned. “Dude, listen, I really don’t feel like doing this right now. I am just trying to go home and get some sleep. I slept twenty minutes last night and I hope you would understand that people need sleep.”  
“Shouldn’t you be in school right now?” He asked, ignoring everything I said.  
“Shouldn’t you be jerking off to lesbian porn in your mom’s basement?” I retorted.   
His nostrils flared.  
“I’m not the kind of person to be fucked with.” I warned, shoving past him.   
I thought he was going to let me go but he grabbed my wrist tightly and pulled me back. I tried to push him away but he just held my wrist with one hand and the material of my jacket with the other and I couldn’t wriggle away.   
I lifted my foot from the ground and pulled the knife from my boot with my free hand. Before he knew what I was doing, I made a slashing motion towards him.   
The blade didn’t cut him but it tore the shirt he was wearing.   
He managed to get ahold of my wrist but I didn’t let him get the knife from my hand. “I could use a little help over here!”  
Within seconds of him shouting, another hunter came running over. He didn’t hold a gun but he was running directly at me.   
A surge of adrenaline coursed through me and I pulled my hand away. The handle of my knife had a small raised point at the end, it was one of the main reasons I’d wanted it. I knew that the handle was just as much of a weapon as the blade.   
I swung behind me, the end of the handle and the side of my fist slammed into the side of the guy’s head. Unconscious, he crumpled to the ground.   
The first guy came up behind me, his chest pressed against my back and his hands latching onto my wrists.   
“Let go of me!” I growled, unsuccessfully trying to pull away from him.  
After a minute of that, I decided to try a new tactic.   
I remembered something I had done with Argent while he was helping me with different self-defense techniques. It wasn’t something he’d taught me, exactly, but something I had figured out myself when I made a mistake and he had me trapped in a similar position.   
I adjusted my stance – my feet between his – and pushed my hands as far away from my body as I could.   
I swiveled my hips to the right and moved my right leg back. The top of my foot touched the outside of his left ankle and I forced my leg forward again, successfully sweeping his legs out from my underneath him.   
My success was short lived because when he pulled me down with him, I landed on his chest and I could feel white hot pain pierce through my abdomen, just inches below my breast.   
The guy moved out from underneath me but I remained on the ground. My knife was laying somewhere next to me. My hands went to my abdomen, where I could feel the pain.   
I lifted my right hand, surprised to see it coated in blood. I looked down, seeing a tear in my shirt and a deep cut that ran from my left side all the way to the middle of my abdomen.   
“Oh fuck.” I groaned, applying pressure to the wound.   
The guy I had been fighting with looked horrified and took off running.   
I was alone. I was alone and I couldn’t get up and I was bleeding and I thought I was going to die.   
The pain was unbelievable. And I wasn’t sure exactly how it had happened.   
I felt like I was going to pass out.   
Moments later, I heard footsteps approaching. I turned my head to the side to see the hunter returning with Gerard.   
I tried to ask for help but I couldn’t.  
“It was an accident.” The young hunter said to Gerard. “I didn’t know what to do so I found you.”  
Gerard stepped closer, looking down at me. He was smiling. “It’s fine. Just leave her there to bleed out.”   
With that, he walked away and the guy followed after him after hesitating for only a moment.   
I sobbed loudly, still trying to slow the bleeding. I moved my right hand away from the wound, fishing around in my pocket for my phone.  
When I finally got it out, I was met with more disappointment. I tried to turn it on several times but the battery was clearly dead.  
“Fuck!” I shouted and dropped it to the ground.   
The sky above me was growing dark and I was still bleeding heavily. I needed help.  
I was still crying silently when I heard more footsteps a few minutes later. My head swiveled around and I saw Nolan maybe 15 feet away.   
My mouth was dry and I was so weak that I could barely get any words out. But I still tried. “Nolan! Nolan, please!”   
He didn’t hear me at first.   
I noticed a fairly sizable rock laying inches from my head and I grabbed it. It took everything in me to throw it towards him.  
It clattered to the ground next to his feet and he jumped slightly, looking in my direction.  
When he saw me laying on the ground, his eyes went wide and he dropped his crossbow as he sprinted towards me.   
He fell to his knees next to me when he saw all of the blood. It was staining my shirt, my hands, even soaking into the dirt beneath me. “Lauren, can you hear me?”   
I nodded weakly.   
“Okay. Just hold still, I'm going to get you out of here.” His hands fumbled with his belt buckle but he managed to pull it from the loops. “I'm going to put this around you.”  
He gently slid it beneath me and slid the end back through the buckle. “Move your hands for me, Ren.”   
I slid my hands away from the cut and Nolan tightened the belt around me. The leather pressed against the cut and I nearly screamed at the pain.   
“I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.” He said, fastening the belt around me. “This should help though, okay? Just use one of your hands to keep more pressure on it.”   
I followed his instructions and pressed my right hand against it.   
He spotted my phone on the ground and he picked it up, sliding it into his pocket.  
One of his arms slid underneath my shoulders and the other under my knees.   
I looped my left arm around his neck.  
“This is going to hurt.” He warned, tears threatening his blue eyes.  
I nodded. “S'okay.”   
With that, he slowly lifted me from the ground.  
I whimpered at the pain but bit my tongue to keep from screaming.  
“I'm sorry.” He said again. “But I have to get you out of here. You need to go to the hospital.”   
Nolan carried me with ease, walking towards the front of the zoo.   
I began to feel increasingly weak. My head fell to his chest and my eyelids slid shut.  
“Lauren?” Nolan asked. “Lauren, hey, keep your eyes open. You have to stay awake.”   
“’M tryin'.” I muttered. “Tired.”   
“I know. I know you’re tired and I know it hurts but you have to keep your eyes open.”   
I did my best to do what he said but there were a few times I nearly passed out, barely managing to keep myself awake. The adrenaline that was coursing through me when I was fighting had worn off and I was exhausted.  
When we approached his car, I reached out, using the little bit of strength I had left to pull the door open.   
It only opened a few inches but it was enough for Nolan to kick it open the rest of the way and gently lay me in the backseat before closing it and getting into the driver's seat.  
Nolan continued talking to me during the entire drive to the hospital. Every few seconds, he glanced at me in the rearview mirror.   
I didn’t have the energy to respond or even process everything he was saying but his voice helped me stay calm.   
When he pulled up to the ER, he quickly lifted me back into his arms and ran me inside.   
A familiar voice reached my ears.   
“Lauren? Oh my god, what happened?”   
It was Melissa.   
Nolan answered for me. “I think it was a fight. She’s cut really bad. I think she needs stitches.”   
“Okay, let’s get her to a bed.”   
Melissa showed Nolan where to take me and he gently lowered me onto a hospital bed while I heard her shout for a doctor.   
Nolan sat next to me. “Hey, you’re gonna be okay. Alright? You're gonna be just fine.”  
I tried to offer him a smile but I couldn’t.   
One of his hands slipped into mine and I gave a gentle squeeze.   
Melissa came back into the room, one of her hands softly running over the top of my head. “Okay, Lauren, a doctor is coming. We're going to take care of you.”   
She looked at the belt wrapped around me before turning her attention to Nolan. “Did you do this?”  
He nodded. “Is it okay? I didn’t know what else to do. She was just bleeding so much.”   
Melissa silenced him. “It’s fine. It’s great, actually. Looks like it helped stop the bleeding.”   
A doctor I recognized walked into the room and offered me a smile. “Hi, Miss Dunbar. Let’s get you taken care of.”  
Nolan moved out of the way and towards the foot of the bed. He watched as Melissa and the doctor removed the tourniquet from my waist.   
I groaned, the release of pressure sent a wave of pain through my abdomen.   
“Do you want something for the pain?” The doctor asked.  
I shook my head. “Nothing strong, just lidocaine.”   
“Okay. We can do that.” He said while examining the cut. “Good news is the cut doesn’t go all the way through the subcutaneous tissue so you don’t need surgery. But you do need some stitches and we might keep you a couple of hours to make sure the lido doesn’t have any adverse effects. Okay?”   
“Has anyone paged dad?” I asked.   
Melissa nodded. “He’s operating upstairs but a nurse paged him. He’ll be down soon. Should we call your mom?”  
“No, she’s in bed by now.” I explained, my voice not much more than a whisper.  
“Okay, well, let’s get you patched up. Melissa, I need lido and a suture kit.”  
When Melissa left the room to get the supplies, the doctor grabbed a few things that were already in the room.   
Nolan moved to sit next to me, his hand finding mine again.  
“Have you had stitches before?” The doctor asked.  
I nodded once. “I used to get hurt a lot when I was a kid.”  
As he continued getting things ready, I turned back to Nolan. The hand that was holding mine was trembling.   
“Thank you.” I whispered.   
He nodded, his thumb tracing over the back of my hand. “You’re welcome. But I just… What were you even doing there, Lauren?”  
“The right thing. I was doing the right thing, what I had to do. Why where you there? Why are you with them?”  
His eyes dropped, staring at the cut on my side rather than meeting my eyes.   
Melissa came back in a moment later while the doctor was cleaning out the cut.   
My voice was still a whisper when I spoke again. “You don’t have to do this, Nolan. You know that, right?”  
“What if I want to?” He challenged.  
I shook my head. “But you don’t. I can tell. I know you. I know you a lot better than you think I do. And this isn’t you, this isn’t who you are.”  
“Okay, Lauren, a little pinch.” The doctor warned before injecting lidocaine into my skin around the cut.   
I didn’t respond to him, I just kept talking to Nolan. “You’re a good person. You’re just scared right now and that’s okay. It’s okay to be scared. But I promise it’s not going to be like this forever; there will come a time when things aren’t as terrifying. But these people – Gerard and Monroe – are monsters. To me, they’re worse than what we saw in the library. They scare me more than that.”  
He still didn’t meet my eyes but his hand never left mine and I could tell he was listening to what I had to say.   
My head fell back against the pillow and I sighed, watching as the doctor began to stitch me up.   
He only had a few stitches done when my dad entered the room, panic etched across his face. “Lauren? Oh my god, what happened?”  
Nolan left my side and my dad took his spot.   
“Dad, I’m okay. It was just an accident. I’m fine, I just need a few stitches.” I said, immediately trying to calm him.   
He watched at the doctor continued sewing up the wound. “What were you doing?”  
“It was accident. I was messing around and I shouldn’t have.”   
He was barely hearing me. “Melissa, what happened?”  
She shook her head. “Doctor Geyer, I only know what you know. But I think what really matters is that she’s going to be just fine.”  
He nodded once and I reached out, squeezing one of his hands.   
“Like I said, Dad, I’m okay.”  
Within another twenty minutes, I was all stitched up and the doctor was covering the stitches with gauze.   
“Since this was pretty deep, I’m going to have you keep these in for about two weeks. Then you can come back in to get them removed, okay?” He said.  
I nodded. “Sounds good. I already know the drill for taking care of them so you don’t have to worry about that.”  
He smiled. “Well, alright then. We’re going to have you stick around for another hour to make sure you don’t react poorly to the lidocaine. Before you leave, I can write you a prescription for a mild pain killer.”  
“No.” I shook my head. “No pain killers. I’ll just take ibuprofen.”  
“Are you sure?” Dad asked. “You might need something a little stronger than that.”  
I shook my head again. “No, I don’t want pain killers. I’ll be fine. I want to at least try to stick it out for a few days. If I can’t handle it, I’ll get something else. Until then, I’m only taking ibuprofen.”  
His pager went off a second later and he glanced at it, muttering a quiet “shit” before turning it off.  
“I have to go. Call your brother to take you home, okay? Love you.” He said, kissing the top of my head before rushing out of the room.   
The doctor who had stitched me up said goodbye before following him out.   
“Do you want to tell me what really happened?” Melissa asked when the door shut.   
I almost laughed. “I sort of inserted myself into Scott’s plan in a way that I shouldn’t have.”  
She rolled her eyes but smiled. “Why am I not surprised?”  
“Because it’s me.” I sighed.   
“Is Scott alright?” She asked.  
I shrugged. “I don’t really know. My phone’s dead so I don’t know about anyone but Liam and Theo.”   
She nodded. “Okay. Well, I’m going to call my son and find out what the hell is going on. And I’ll call Liam to come pick you up. Until he gets here, you just need to relax, okay? Do you need anything before I go?”  
“No, I’m okay. Thanks, Melissa.”   
She gave a smile before leaving the room.   
Nolan was standing at the foot of the bed, looking unsure of what he was supposed to do.  
“Do you really still want to be on their side after this? I thought we were friends but you’re going to pick them after what they did to me?” My voice trembled when I spoke and I was already on the verge of crying.   
“It’s not that simple.”   
I thought back to something he’d said at the zoo. “You know what their like. When you had that crossbow pointed at Liam, you said you had to kill him. You said she would kill you if you didn’t. You were talking about Monroe.”   
He nodded once.  
I carefully repositioned myself on the bed. “Okay, listen, you probably need to get out of here before my brother shows up. But I’ll figure something out.”  
“What do you mean?”  
“Something to keep you safe.” I said. “I’m not only trying to protect my pack, Nolan. I’m trying to protect everyone.”


	7. Chapter 7 pt 1

Liam was asleep as I paced back and forth across my room, arms folding across my chest. He was curled up on my large beanbag chair, positioned next to my bed. After him and Theo brought me home from the hospital, he had insisted on sleeping in my room to make sure I was okay.

How he was managing to sleep, I did not know. Just thirty minutes earlier we had gotten off the phone with Scott, finding out that someone had decided to shoot up his house in the middle of the night. The attack had Mason, Lydia, and Scott’s parents all in the hospital. No one knew who had done it but I wasn’t going to be able to sleep until someone had figured something out.

But Liam had been awake for hours, making sure I was safe while I slept. And I decided to let him rest while I stayed up, just in case someone decided to target us next.

There were still some tears dripping down my cheeks while I paced but I ignored them. I wanted to know who had attacked my friends.

A few taps on my bedroom window caused me to jump and I felt a soft pull at the stitches on my side. I whirled around, surprised to see Theo’s face outside.

I rushed over and lifted the window. “What are you doing here?”

“Scott called me, have you talked to him?”

I nodded. “Yeah, he called a little while ago.”

“I figured you might be worried, so I knew one of you would be awake.” He said, almost smiling at Liam’s sleeping figure. “I thought I could keep watch and let the both of you get some sleep.”

“You don’t have to do that.” I said softly.

He nodded. “I know I don’t. But I’m going to. So let me in, it’s freezing out here.”

I almost laughed and moved out of the way, letting Theo climb in through the window before pushing it shut.

He immediately took a seat in the chair I had in the corner, kicking his shoes off and getting comfortable.

I smiled. “Do you need a blanket or anything? I have extras in the closet.”

He shook his head. “What I need is for you to go to bed. You’re hurt and you need to rest.”

I rolled my eyes but climbed back into my bed, pulling the blankets tight around me. “Hey, Theo?”

He looked over at me expectantly.

“Thank you.”

He smiled. “You’re welcome, Ren.”

After that, I spent nearly two hours trying to sleep; no matter how much I readjusted, threw off my blankets, covered up again, or fluffed my pillow, I could not manage to rest.

With an aggravated groan, I threw my blankets off and pushed myself up against the headboard, looking over at Theo with a pout.

“Having a hard time?” He asked.

“I am filled with emotions.”

“Do you want me to spoon you?”

“I would prefer if you didn’t.”

He laughed quietly. “What do you need?”

I thought for a minute. “I’m tempted to say a bottle of whiskey but I’m not sure that’s a very healthy response.”

Theo stood and walked over, taking a seat at the end of my bed. “Do you need food? Water? Ibuprofen?”

“Are you actually mothering me right now?” I asked.

He laughed again, the sound causing Liam to stir slightly. “I might be.”

We sat in silence for a few minutes.

“You’re worrying too much.” Theo said suddenly. “I would know even if I couldn’t smell it on you.”

I smiled. “Do you really blame me?”

He shook his head. “No, not at all. But you do smell really terrible.”

I kicked at him, barely hitting his thigh. “Shut up. It’s not my fault.”

It was quiet again for a few minutes.

I heard blankets rustling as Liam began stirring again. I looked over to see his face scrunched up and I could hear him start breathing faster.

Theo noticed at the same moment and he glanced at me, concern in his eyes.

I moved from the bed and knelt next to Liam as a quiet whimper came from his throat.

“Liam?” I said softly, brushing my fingers through his hair. “Liam, wake up.”

He didn’t wake but he pulled the blankets tight around his shoulders, his eyebrows furrowed.

“Liam!” I shook his shoulder and he cowered away.

“Is he okay?” Theo asked.

I shook my head. “He hasn’t had a nightmare in over a year. I don’t know why it’s suddenly happening again.”

I turned my attention back to my brother. “Liam, please wake up.”

After another minute of trying and Liam only getting more worked up, I started to panic. I could only think of one other way to wake him.

“He’s gonna hate me for this.” I said before pulling my hand back and delivering a swift slap to his cheek.

He jerked awake, his eyes were wide and he was gasping for air.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” I asked, grabbing his shoulders. “You were having a nightmare. What was it?”

Liam took a few seconds to catch his breath before answering me. “I had a dream you were there, at Scott’s house. You got shot. It was terrible. You were dying.”

I brushed my hand through his hair. “It’s okay, Li. I’m going to be just fine. I’m not dying.”

He nodded, grabbing one of my hands. That was when he noticed Theo sitting on the bed. “What’s he doing here?”

“He came over to keep an eye on us so that we could both sleep.” I explained, keeping my voice soft.

“Did I wake you?”

I shook my head. “No. I couldn’t sleep anyway.”

“We have to find out who did this. If not, you’re not going to be able to sleep, I’m going to start having nightmares again. Ren, we have to figure this out. Scott has enough going on, we have to do this.”

I nodded. “I know, Li, I know. Just try to calm down, okay?”

My brother took a few more deep breaths and I could feel his pulse in his wrist falling slowly.

“It’s going to be okay.” I said, my fingers still combing through his hair gently.

He sat up, letting his blanket fall from his shoulders.

“You’re sweaty.” I noted, seeing the light sheen on his skin. “Why don’t you go take a cool shower? I promise it will make you feel better.”

He nodded and I let my hand fall to my lap as he left the room. A minute later I heard the shower turn on down the hall.

I turned my attention to Theo. “I’m really scared.”

“Are you scared for you or are you scared for him?” He asked.

Somehow, the question didn’t surprise me. “Both, I guess. But mostly him. And you. And everyone else.”

“I don’t understand how you’re so okay knowing that you could get hurt, that you could die.”

I shrugged. “Honestly, I’m not sure myself. I guess I just shut it down somehow. It’s easy to not worry about myself when I’m worrying about all of you.”

“We all worry about you.” He said.

“I’ll be okay.” I assured him.

He looked away from me, gazing out the window for a few seconds.

“How are you handling everything? After what happened at the station.” He asked.

I moved to sit on the bed again, propped up against the headboard. “It’s… It’s actually really hard.”

Tears immediately sprung up in my eyes and I tried to stop them.

“Theo, I don’t… I don’t know what to do. Because I was trying so hard to stop her and I couldn’t. I promised her she would go home to see her husband and she didn’t. She still shot herself. And there was so much blood. And I remember looking down at my chest and there was a… There was a piece of her brain stuck to my shirt.”

I couldn’t stop myself from crying then. I sobbed loudly and Theo moved closer to me, pulling me towards him and wrapping his arms around me.

I cried into his shoulder, my shaking hands fisted in the material of his hoodie. “It’s so fucking hard, Theo.”

His hand rested on the back of my head. “I know. Just try to breathe. It’s going to be okay.”

I don’t know how long we sat like that before Liam entered the room again.

“What’s going on?” He asked.

Theo spoke for me. “She’s having a little bit of a rough time. But it’s okay, I’ve got her.”

I held onto him tightly but offered Liam a weak smile. “I’ll be okay. I think I just needed a good cry.”

He sat down on my beanbag chair that he was using as a makeshift bed, small water droplets falling from his freshly washed hair onto his shoulders. “How much have you slept?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know exactly. A couple hours. Maybe less.”

“How long was I out?”

“About three hours. We both need more.” I said, yawning as if on cue.

Theo ran one of his hands up and down my back since I was still leaned against him. “Why don’t you guys try to go back to sleep? I’ll take up my post in the corner to keep watch.”

“Aren’t you tired?” Liam asked him.

Theo shrugged. “Not really. Besides, I can sleep while you two are at school.”

I sat up straight, letting go of the boy next to me. “Okay, sounds like a plan to me.”

Theo stood up from his spot on my bed so that I could get comfortable while Liam curled up on the beanbag chair again.

“If you get tired you can wake one of us.” I told Theo as he sat down in the chair. “Or you can get some coffee from the kitchen.”

“Ren, don’t worry about me. Just go to sleep.”

I smiled, pulling my blanket tight around my shoulders and burying my head in the pillow.

The rest of the night was spent trying to sleep but I was unsuccessful. Around six A.M., about an hour before my alarm was set to go off, I gave up completely and climbed out of bed. Liam was still sleeping peacefully.

“Everything okay?” Theo asked.

“Just can’t sleep. I figured I might as well do something useful if I’m going to be awake so I’m going to make breakfast.” I explained, grabbing a sweater from my dresser and pulling it on over the thin tank top I had worn to bed. “Are you hungry?”

He nodded. “Yeah, kind of.”

“Okay. Just stay with Liam, let him sleep a little longer. I’ll let you know when breakfast is ready.”

I left my bedroom and walked carefully down the stairs. Before heading into the kitchen, I made a stop in the bathroom and grabbed some ibuprofen from the cabinet, washing them down with water from the faucet.

When I walked into the kitchen, I got straight to work on breakfast. Within minutes, the kitchen was filled with the smell of bacon. After finishing that, I scrambled some eggs while the bread was toasting.

I was just dumping the eggs onto plates when the last pieces of toast popped up and I could hear footsteps coming down the stairs. I placed all of the plates on the kitchen table along with a few glasses and the carton of orange juice.

Liam walked into the room and pulled me into a hug. “How are you feeling?”

“Okay.” I said. “Better than I expected. What about you?”

“Same. Thanks for making breakfast.”

I nodded. “Don’t mention it.”

We all sat down to eat, the conversation was kept to a minimum. I was just finishing my toast when Theo spoke.

“So, has anyone talked to Scott since last night?”

I shook my head. “No. He’s at the hospital, waiting for everyone to get out of surgery. I was thinking of stopping by before school.”

“Did you tell him about what happened to you?”

“I did.” Liam said. “I called him before we picked her up from the hospital. He’s not happy.”

My phone started ringing and I jumped up to get it from the spot I’d left it on the counter. When I picked it up, I saw Nolan’s name on the screen. I ignored the call and dropped my phone back to the counter. I wasn’t in the mood to talk to him.

“Who was it?” Liam asked.

“No one.” I said. “It doesn’t matter.”

I slid my phone into the pocket of my sweatpants and folded my arms across my chest.

“What are you thinking about?” Theo asked.

I chewed on my bottom lip while I thought about how to answer. “A lot of different things. I just… Was it Monroe who shot up Scott’s house? Or did she tell someone to do it?”

“Do you think it was Nolan?” Liam asked.

I shook my head. “No. I seriously doubt it. He was at the hospital with me for a while so I don’t think he would’ve had time. But I – oh, shit.”

I realized that I’d fucked up. The night before I had told Theo and Liam and that I didn’t know who had taken me to the hospital but I’d just given away the truth.

“It was Nolan? He was the one who drove you the emergency room?” Liam asked, standing up from his seat at the table and taking a step towards me. “Why did you lie? Why did you tell us that you didn’t know?”

My foot tapped nervously. “I just… I don’t know, Liam. I guess I thought you would try to turn it around, turn it into something bad.”

“Didn’t you think that maybe he put you in his car to kill you or something?”

I rolled my eyes. “No, Liam, I did not. Because he didn’t even see me laying on the ground, bleeding, until I threw a fucking rock at him. And then when he did see me, he freaked out, made a tourniquet out of his belt. Yeah, really sounds like he was trying to kill me.”

“I made a tourniquet for Lydia and I was definitely not doing it for the right reasons.” Theo jumped in.

My eyes widened and my jaw dropped open for a second. “Okay, listen, just because you were an asshole does not mean that everyone else is also an asshole.”

“What if he had hurt you?” Liam asked.

“He’s not going to hurt me. If he wanted to hurt me, why wouldn’t he just shoot me with that crossbow? He doesn’t actually want to hurt anyone.” I explained.

Theo nodded. “Yeah, you’re right. People carry crossbows because they don’t want to hurt people. That makes sense.”

I groaned loudly, staring up at the ceiling. “Liam, do you remember what he said yesterday? While he had the bow pointed at you?”

Liam shook his head. “I was kind of focused on trying not to kill him.”

“He said he had to kill you, that she would kill him if he didn’t. She is Monroe. She threatened him. Nolan’s scared, you guys. He doesn’t want to do this but he feels like he has to.”

“So how do you know that he didn’t shoot up Scott’s house to save his own ass since he failed at the zoo? He saved you, because clearly he likes you, and then he grabbed a gun and headed to Scott’s house so that he could prove himself to Monroe. We have no reason to believe that he didn’t do that.” Theo said.

“Alright, fine, if you’re so concerned, we’ll do some scouting today at school. I’ll talk to Nolan, see if I can find anything out. He’s a terrible liar so I’ll be able to tell. Liam, you get to talk to Gabe.”

“What about me?” Theo asked.

I shook my head. “You don’t need to do anything yet. If we need you, I’ll call you. Until then, just go home and try to lay low.”

A look that I couldn’t quite place flickered across his face for a second.

“What was that?” I asked. “Do you not want to go home?”

When Liam turned to face him, he avoided meeting either of our eyes.

I walked over and sat down in the chair next to him. “Theo, tell me what’s going on.”

He scratched at the back of his neck. “I would love to go home but I can’t, okay?”

My eyes searched his face for some sort of explanation and then it hit me.

“Your parents left town after you disappeared.”

“They weren’t my real parents anyway.” He pointed out. “But yeah, they left.”

“And now you don’t have anywhere to go.”

He nodded. “It seems that way.”

Tears formed in my eyes and I blinked them away. “Wait, so where have you been staying since they brought you back?”

His eyes finally met mine. “I usually just try to find somewhere to park my truck and go to sleep in the backseat. I don’t get to sleep through the night most times, there’s almost always a cop who tells me I need to go somewhere else. It’s exhausting, honestly.”

“Right.” I nodded and cleared my throat. “Okay, well, you don’t have to worry about that anymore. You can stay here for as long as you need to.”

“What?” Both boys asked at once.

I turned to Liam. “We can talk to mom and dad tonight, see if we can set him up in the guest room for a bit.”

“And if they say no?” Liam asked.

“Then we hide him here anyway.” I turned back to Theo. “We have an air mattress from when we used to go camping so we can inflate it and you can sleep on that if you need to. It’s small enough that we could hide it under my bed in case mom and dad come snooping round. But I promise, it’s actually really comfortable. And I have loads of extra pillows and blankets in the closet. And you can shower during the day when our parents are at work. And I’ll smuggle food for you. I’ve been wanting to get a minifridge for my room, now this is like, the perfect excuse.”

“You’re rambling.” Liam pointed out.

I nodded. “I realize that. I’m stopping. So what do you think, Theo? Do you wanna stay here for a while?”

Theo’s eyes were wide when he looked at me, the smallest hint of a smile raising the corners of his mouth. “Ren, I can’t ask you to do this. After all of the shit I put you guys through before.”

I shook my head. “Don’t. Don’t do that. I’m not mad about that, not anymore. You’re helping us now. You’re with us. You showed up at my window in the middle of the night to make sure we were okay. You put yourself at risk at the zoo when you didn’t have to. I feel like I can trust you to have my back, and that means I’ll have yours. And that means no more sleeping in your truck when you have a place here.”

It almost looked like there were tears in his eyes when he gently pulled me into his chest. “Thank you, Ren. I still don’t think I deserve this from you, but I really appreciate it.”

I smiled as I squeezed his shoulders. “It’s not a problem, Theo. I’ve got you.”

I pulled back to look at him. “So after we leave for school, you’re going to go upstairs, take a shower if you want, get into my bed, and get yourself some damn rest.”

“Are you sure? You don’t have to do this.” He asked.

“If you question me again, I might slap you.” I warned. “I’m trying to help you, dammit.”

I stood up from the table, playfully rubbing the top of Theo’s head while I looked over to my brother. “Think you guys can handle the dishes for me? I need to shower. Also, I can’t get my stitches wet so someone needs to wrap me in plastic wrap.”

“What, you want me to wrap you up like a leftover meatloaf?” Liam asked.

I nodded once. “That is essentially the idea.”

“I can help you.” Theo offered. “I’ll get the saran wrap. Do you need help getting upstairs?”

I frowned, glancing down at my side where my stitches were hidden. “Probably. I’m in a lot of pain right now.”

My brother walked towards me instantly, grabbing my hand before I could even try to stop him. The veins in our hands turned black and I sighed in relief, feeling my pain lessen with every second.

Before he could take all of my pain, I pulled my hand away.

“You’re still in pain.” He said.

I nodded. “Yeah, but I’ll be okay. You need to save your strength, Li. We don’t know what could happen, you need to be as strong as possible.”

“I’m just worried about you.”

“But you’re at bigger risk than I am, Liam. You’re the werewolf, not me. Maybe I can’t heal like you can but these people, Liam… Everything they have. All of the wolfsbane laced bullets and arrows and god knows what else. They could kill you, Li.” My voice trembled more and more as I spoke and I could feel tears dripping down my cheeks. “Please just trust that I know what I’m doing. Trust that I know how to take care of myself. And let me fucking help for once.”

“Lauren, that guy could’ve killed you yesterday. Are you trying to ignore this problem? Your idea to protect us got you hurt.”

“I don’t care, Liam! How many times do we have to fucking go over this?” I yelled. “I’m going to be fine and I got you guys out of there safely. That’s all that matters to me. I would do this shit everyday if I had to.”

He ran a hand through his already messy hair and opened his mouth to speak.

Before he could get any words out, I held up one hand to stop him. “Don’t. Liam, please. I don’t want to do this right now. I want to shower and go to school and find out what the fuck is going on. Can we go one day without fighting about this?”

“He’s right though, Lauren.” Theo said, causing me to glare at him. “But you are too. Listen, guys… There’s so much shit going on and arguing about this all the time isn’t helping anything. Liam, you’ve gotta let her have some more freedom. She’s smart, she’s strong, she can take care of herself. But Ren, you can’t keep getting yourself into these dangerous situations all the time. You can’t heal like we do but we need you.”

I sighed, folding my arms across my chest. “I know. I get it. You guys know I just want to help though, right?”

Both boys nodded in response.

“Okay, good. Well, I really need to shower so who is going to wrap me like the remnants of the Christmas ham?” I asked.

“I got you.” Theo laughed, moving towards the kitchen to retrieve a roll of plastic wrap.

When he came back into the room, he lightly wrapped his arm around my shoulders before guiding me towards the stairs and up to the bathroom.

“So, uh, how naked are you wanting to get before I do this?” He asked.

I almost laughed. “If you’re wondering if my boobs will be out, the answer is probably yes. Is that a problem?”

“Your boobs will not offend me.”

“That’s good.” I paused, scratching the back of my neck. “Can you, uh… Can you help me get my shirt off?”

Theo nodded. “Arms up.”

I carefully lifted my arms over my head.

“You’re hurting a lot more than you want him to know, aren’t you?” He asked, gathering the hem of my sweater the tank top underneath in his hands.

“Yeah, I am.” I admitted. “Please don’t tell him.”

He pulled both shirts over my head and tossed them to the laundry basket next to the sink. His eyes never once dropped down to even glance at my breasts. He was very deliberate as he wrapped the plastic around my abdomen, making sure the wound was covered tightly before stepping away from me. “Okay, how does that feel? Is it too tight?”

I shook my head. “No, feels alright. Thanks, Theo.”

He smiled briefly. “Don’t mention it. Need anything else?”

“No, I’ll be okay. Just, uh, check on Liam. I’m worried about him, now more than ever. Mason being hurt is going to fuck with him.” I said.

He nodded once, turning to leave the bathroom. “Yeah, I’ll try to talk to him now.”

The door shut behind him and I turned on the shower to let the water get warm before removing the sweats I’d worn to bed and my underwear. They joined my sweater in the laundry basket.

I caught my reflection in the mirror and I turned to take a closer look. Despite being covered in plastic, the cut on my side was a deep, angry red against my pale skin. The doctor had done his best to stitch it up but the line still looked jagged and I wondered how bad the scar would look. Would it be something I spent the rest of my life trying to cover or would I allow the world to see what had happened to me?

I wondered what would happen if we all made it out alive and I ever saw that hunter again. I wondered if I might see him at the beach and his eyes would find the scar on my side and feel guilty for what he’d done. But there always the chance he might end up dead before that could ever happen, always the chance I might end up dead.

Steam from the hot shower began to fog up the mirror so I pushed away from the sink and carefully stepped into the shower, muscles instantly beginning to relax at the feel of the water. I looked at my feet as water poured down my body, small traces of dirt and blood washed from my skin and swirled down the drain. Unfortunately, those weren’t the last remnants of the zoo. The aching wound on my side and the fear lingering in the back of my mind were sure to stick around.

I’d managed to stop myself from crying while I was getting cleaned up but once I placed my loofa back onto the shelf, something changed. Before I could even try to stop them, tears poured down my cheeks and I had to put my hand over my mouth to stifle the sobs. If Liam or Theo heard me crying, they would come rushing in instantly.

My legs shook and I lowered myself to the floor of the shower, falling onto my knees and curling in on myself. The water hitting my back was getting colder by the second but I couldn’t be bothered to care.

The sound of a single gunshot echoed through my head. I remembered the feeling of blood splattering my face. I could hear myself scream when it looked like Liam was about to kill Nolan right in front of me. The image of my own blood covering my shaking hands was ingrained in my mind. The thought of Lydia, Mason, and Scott’s parents lying in hospital beds horrified me. The thought of anything happening to my friends, to the pack, made my heart pound so hard in my chest that I was sure it would give up completely.

A scream so loud and violent tore from my throat that I could taste blood in my mouth. My whole body shook with the force of it. I was sure that Lydia would’ve been impressed if she hadn’t been laying in a hospital bed with a bullet wound.

The bathroom door banged open, nearly flying off its hinges. The shower curtain was shoved out of the way, the water turned off, and a soft towel was wrapped around me. A strong pair of hands pulled me from the shower and placed me gently on the cold tile floor. Arms were wrapped around my shoulders, pulling me into a firm chest and rocking me all while my mouth still hung open in a silent scream.

There was a hand in my hair and a gentle voice in my ears. Another pair of hands took hold of mine, thumbs rubbing the back of them.

I couldn’t breathe. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t pull air into my lungs. My body was too full. Too full of pain, too full of fear. I wanted to empty myself, to tear my heart from my chest, to make room for my lungs to expand. I wanted to bring people into me, to tuck them into the cavern of my chest. I wanted to use my ribs as a shield, to protect them from the carnage unfolding on the other side of my skin. My heart and lungs were merely placeholders, keeping the only shelter I had to offer warm for anyone who needed it.

But I couldn’t help while I was sobbing on the bathroom floor. So my mouth snapped shut, my head raised, and my shoulders squared themselves.

Theo’s arms fell from my shoulders to rest around my waist as I sat up, pulling my hands from Liam’s to wipe tears from my cheeks.

“Want to tell us what happened?” Theo asked softly.

“Panic attack.” I admitted. “Everything just… I can’t get it out of my head.”

I adjusted the towel wrapped around me, not because it was falling off but because I needed to do something with my hands.

“What are you thinking?”

I looked up at Liam, shivering as cold drops of water fell from my hair and slid down my back. “I have an idea, a plan.”

“Great! What’s your idea?” Theo asked.

I shook my head. “I can’t tell you that. I just need you guys to trust me on this one.”

My brother’s eyes were trained on mine, I could see fear and anger in his. I wondered what he could see in mine.

“I know it’s a lot to ask. I know you’re worried. But this is something I have to do myself, Liam. I’m not going to lie to you and tell you that this isn’t dangerous because it is. But you have to stay out of it because if you don’t, that will only make it worse. If I can pull this off, we can stop this. We could stop all of it. But you have to trust me.”

I was still sitting sideways between Theo’s legs and his arms were heavy around my waist.

“What’s the risk? How high are the chances of something going wrong?” He asked.

“Pretty high. There are a lot of variables to consider. One minor slip up and the whole plan could fucking crumble.” I explained, finishing with a sigh.

“Ren, what happens if it does crumble?”

I turned my head to face him. “You sure you wanna know?”

He nodded slowly.

“I am positive that Monroe will put a bullet in my head.”


End file.
